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LIFE 



37 



GODFKEY WILLIAM VOX LEIBNITZ. 



ON TDK BASIS OF THB 



GERMAN WORK 






J (HI \ 



BOSTO 
GOULD, KENDALL AM) LINCOLN, 

1 - I 5 . 



-$* 



<f 



4? 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845, 
By GOULD, KEJNDALL & LINCOLN, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



W. S. DAMRELL, PRINTER, 
NO. 11 CORNHILL, BOSTON. 






P KEF ACE. 



The Siniuer,* upon the 

basis of which I 
best ol 
matheiii:iiii-i:in and philosopher. 

in which ill 1 .in ■ 

less dci- . is a 

i Leibnitz by his * i -oistant in his- 

thtit. A;: r 1 Sekhart, 

numerous) be mentioned; raehas 

. 
lbnitz the 
iphical 11 
valuable. 

Biographic, 
von Dr. (i. E. (iuhrauer. lau j Vorl 

Ferdinand Hirt. If 



IV PREFACE. 

eulogy pronounced upon Leibnitz before the Academy of 
Sciences in Paris by Fontenelle ; and the detailed history 
of his life and writings, published in Amsterdam, in the 
French language, by M. de Neufoille, more commonly 
called Joncourt. In Italy, the Memoir by Lamprecht was 
translated by Barsotti, and also enriched with original 
additions. Whatever is interesting or important in any 
of these works, has been incorporated into the biography 
by Guhrauer, who has also availed himself of all the in- 
formation which the course of time has brought to light 
respecting the character, the life, and the writings of his 
distinguished countryman. 

I should have contented myself with simply translating 
the able and learned production of Dr. Guhrauer, had it 
not seemed to me, with all its merits, not entirely adapted 
to the wants of the American literary public. Like most 
German works of this kind, it is rather a collection of 
biographical materials, than a well arranged biography. 
It, also, contains much matter either wholly irrelevant, or 
possessing an interest only for the countrymen of Leibnitz. 
I have therefore re-written the Life, for the purpose of 
divesting it of its German peculiarities, and of presenting 
it in a more acceptable form to the English reader. In 
doing this, however, I have almost invariably re-produced 
the views and opinions, and, for the most part, as it suited 
my convenience, translated the language of the original 
author. Whenever it has been in my power to verify any 
of his results, or to correct any slight accidental error, 



PREFACE. V 

which came under my notice, I have done so. I have. 
however, added little, or nothing, to the German work ; 
and have taken away from it nothing that could bo appro- 
priately introduced into a popular biography, or that 
might be considered afl Dg any historical inter 

for readers without the confines of Germany. All the 
mer strictly due to the author 

of the German Lii the credit, if there be any, of 

] > and presented 
\ form. 

the phib !>nitz 

stood to thai lie onha] 

. tin' farOM r and Newton 

diflerenti 

land and t in a gi 

duly ap. But 

to this :!' 
:ius. II at think. 

age bunder <»i 

Kant iiitlii* 
on t <l civiliz ■/ ad by his 

varied I . together with his uni . 1 in the 

cause oi art- 



VI PREFACE. 

ment of useful study, and thus " yoked all the sciences 
abreast." I therefore indulge the hope that a Life of 
Leibnitz, in the English language, may prove an accession, 
however small, to the cause of letters and of science. 

Providence, R. L, Oct. 1, 1844. 



[TEN! 



i. 

. and parentage of I Mis school* 

cocity— He studies the ancient classics, and 1« 

thought— He studies I 
scholastic metaphysics and the* - 1 j 

CHAPTEB II. 

Leibnitz enters I 
and rejects the scholastic philosoj> no and 

Jar. iu9 — Pursuits and writingi of Leibnitz at the 

is the writings nd other 

modern ; rs — Becom 

the study of jurisprudence as a ; - to the 

-Leibnitz 

irns to tli< becomes master in 

philosoj. of his mother — lie fi itives in 

Brunswick— Essays written by him— He is refused the 

degree of Doctor of Laws — Exiles himself from Saiony. - 2C 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER III. 

Leibnitz receives his doctorate at the University of Altdorf 
— Declines a professorship — Spends the winter of 1667 in 
Nurenberg — Is made secretary of a society of Rosicrusians, 38 

CHAPTER IV. 

Leibnitz becomes acquainted with von Boineburg — Goes to 
Frankfort — Meets with Spener, the pietist — Publishes his 
Methodus nova Jurisprudential — Is engaged by the Elector 
of Mentz in revising the laws of the German empire — 
Hermann Conring — Literary and diplomatic labors of 
Leibnitz — His theological writings — He edits the Anti- 
Barbarus of Marius JSizolius — Attempt to reconcile the 
doctrines of Aristotle with modern philosophy — His theory 
of an universal ether — Possibility of transubstantiation, and 
the real presence — His fame and honors — His correspon- 
dence with Anthony Arnaud, and Spinoza ; - - - - 43 

CHAPTER V. 

Leibnitz becomes engaged in politics — Is present at a confer- 
ence of German princes at Schwalbach — Writes a pamphlet 
on the political affairs of Germany — His journey to Stras- 
burg — He proposes to Louis XIV the conquest of Egypt — 
Goes to Paris — Enlists the Elector of Mentz in favor of 
his project for the conquest of Egypt — Writes to the Duke 
of Hanover respecting it — Its fate — Its relation to the expe- 
dition of Bonaparte — His occupations in Paris — He invents 
an improvement on the reckoning machine of Pascal — His 
projected inventions — His acquaintances in Paris — Antho- 



C N T E N 1 IX 

ny Arnaud— Leibnitz superintends the education of the son 
of Boineburg— Death of Boineburg— Leibnitz visits London 
—Robert Boyle — John Pell— Leibnitz's rivals in d 

His mathematical attainments at this period— Death of 

the Elector of Mentz— His character. 

VI. 

Leibnitz returns to Paris— Declines entering the service of 
the Duke of Hanover, and also that of a minister cf the king 

-sional itfl 
in i imitz's occupati 

in i itz undertakes to 

• the works of M • U —His intercom 

Huvircn — _:n of establishing hi tly 

in Paris — Correspondence with his it — 

design re! Tschirnhiu. • :.. - - - 7t 

VII. 

litx discovers the difiere; 
controversy b. :»nitz and .Newton respecting this 
disco rjj 

OAPTER viil. 

Leibnitz accepts an invitation to enter the service of 

<»n- 
don — Visits Hudde in Amsterdam, a i at the 

I of the court — II.- 
becomes acquainted with Steno, apostolic vicar, and Mola- 
nus, abbot of Lockum — Introduces the invention of phos- 
phorus into Hanover — His visit to Hamburg — His acquaint- 



X CONTENTS. 

ance with John Joachim Becher — He studies the art of 
mining in the Hartz mountains — Attempts to drain the 
ducal mines — His geological investigations — He studies 
coining and currency — Is made court counsellor — His 
arduous public duties — His Dejure suprematus, - - - 116 

CHAPTER IX. 

The influence of jurisprudence on Leibnitz's system of philos- 
ophy — His doctrine of theocracy — Compared with the 
systems of Hobbes and PufFendorf— His views of natural 
law — His idea of substance — Doctrine of monads — Pre- 
established harmony — Optimism — Theodicea — Form of 
Leibnitz's philosophy — His relation to Descartes and 
Spinoza — Peter Bayle — John Locke ; 126 

CHAPTER X. 

Leibnitz's project of an universal language — He applies to 
Louis XIV for aid in executing it — His relation to the 
Church of Rome — His reasons for not joining it — Corre- 
spondence with the Landgave of Hesse Rheinfels, and with 
Madame Brinon, on this subject — Spinola; Huet5 Bossuet 
— Death of the Duke John Frederic, and succession of Er- 
nest Augustus — Leibnitz wishes to reside in Vienna ; and 
to become a foreign member of the Academy of Sciences 
in Paris — He writes a tract against Louis XI V, on the occa- 
sion of the seige of Vienna by the Turks — His intimate re- 
lation with the princes of the House of Brunswick — Char- 
acter of Sophia ; Duchess of Hanover — Molanus, - - 145 



CONTENTS. XI 

CHAPTER XL 

Conference in Hanover respecting church union— Leibnitz's 
Systema TTieologiciim — His correspondence with Pelisson, 
respecting the re-union of Protestants and Catholics— His 
letter to the Duchess Sophia, concerning the visions of 
Miss Von Asseburg— His religious toleration— Correspon- 
dence with Bossuet, on church union— Leibnitz's propo- 
sal to unite all Protestant sects against the Catholics, - 159 

LPTER XII. 

nitz engages to write the history of the House of Bruns- 
wick- Genealogies of German princes in the seventeenth 
century— Lei!' He 

commences a journey to Italy— Proceed! by way of the 

iperial court— M 
ifesto by him respecting the relations of the empire to the 
Unfa and toLooil ina 

DOB to the mines of Hungary— He proceeds to 
row escape at sea— He arri ■me— His 

acquaintance with Roman literati- II - rirftl the catacombs 
—His proposal of introducing the study of natural science 
into the cloisters— Jesuit missions to China— Chinese civ- 
ilization—He goes to ZVaples, Florence, Bologna, Modena 
—His historical discoveries in Modena— He returns to Ven- 
ice— • r on leaving Italy— Arrival at Hanover, 173 

BARTER XIII. 

Leibnitz is occupied with affairs of state — He is made privy 
counsellor of justice — The multiplicity of his labors — His 
historical collections — His philological investigations-^—— 

ment of the German language— His German style- 
Death of the Elector, Ernest Augustus, - - .195 



Xll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XIY. 

Plan of Leibnitz for uniting more closely the courts of 
Hanover and Brandenburg — Negotiations for the union of 
the Lutheran and the Reformed churches — Leibnitz's plan 
of an academy of sciences at Berlin — He is invited by the 
Elector of Brandenburg to Berlin — Is appointed president 
of the new society of sciences — His proposals for obtaining 
pecuniary aid for the society — Project of a society for the 
protection of authors — Culture of silk — His efforts to 
improve the science of medicine — He attempts to establish 
an academy of sciences at Dresden — Interest taken by him 
in popular education — Augustus Hermann Franke ; - - 210 

CHAPTER XY. 

Leibnitz goes to Vienna to attend a conference on church 
union — He composes a manifesto in favor of the rights of 
Charles III to the crown of Spain — His labors in connec- 
tion with the elevation of the Elector of Brandenburg to 
the honors of royalty — Arrival in Hanover of the English 
embassy with the act of succession j also of Toland — State 
papers written by Leibnitz for the Prussian government — 
.Negotiations for uniting the Protestant churches of Ger- 
many , Holland and England — The Theodicea, its origin, 
character and effects — Leibnitz's relation to the queen of 
Prussia — Her death— Leibnitz's grief— Diminution of his 
influence at the court of Prussia— Christian Wolf, - - 221 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Leibnitz visits the head quarters of Charles XII— Description 
of Charles— Leibnitz's intercourse with Peter the Great- 
Leibnitz visits Vienna— Wishes to change his place of 



CONTENTS. Xlll 

residence— His diplomatic labors at the imperial court— His 
la Monadologie— Prince Eugene of Savoy— Leibnitz's pro- 
ject of an academy of sciences at Vienna— His plans for 
improving the finances of the emperor— Ker of Kersland— 
Leibnitz's generosity— Academy of sciences opposed by 
the Jesuits— Leibnitz receives the title of imperial court 
counsellor— Decease of the Electoress Sophia— Its influ- 
ence on Leibnitz— Estrangement of George Lewis from 
Leibnitz— English politics— Death of Queen Anne— Leibnitz 
returns to Hanover— Is not allowed to follow George I to 
England— Plans for changing his residence— His views of 
English affairs— His prophecy of a general revolution in 
Europe— Completion of his history of the House of Bru: 
wick— His unfinished labors, - J40 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The last sickness of Leibnitz— His death and burial, - - 263 

XVIII. 

Description of Leibnitz's person and habits, by Eckhart— 
Also by himself— Extract* from his lef >us 

toleration— Recollections of him by a cotemporary— Charges 
brought against his character— His defects as a writer— I 
views of matrimony— Fondness for children— Report of his 
having had a natural son, 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 



CHAPTER I. 

Birth and parentage of Leibnitz — His school-days — His precocity 
— He studies the ancient classics, and logic — His project of an 
alphabet of human thought — He studies the scholastic meta- 
physics and theology. 

The place which has the honor of having given 
birth to the illustrious subject of this biography, is 
Leipsic, — famed, since the Protestant Reformation, for 
its trade in books, and its cultivation of letters. In 
this venerable seat of learning, Leibnitz was ushered 
into life on the twenty-first day of June (0. S.), 
1646 ; and, on the third day after his birth, baptized 
by the name of Godfrey William. To the astonish- 
ment of the bystanders, and the edification of his 
godly father, the child, at the baptismal font, opened 
his eyes, and raised his head to receive the conse- 
crated water, as it dropped from the hand of the 
officiating clergyman. The father, noting the cir- 
cumstance in his family journal, piously added, — 
" This is my desire : and so do I prophetically look 



16 •» LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

upon this occurrence as a sign of faith, and a most 
sure token, that this my son will walk through life 
with eyes upturned to heaven, burning with love to 
God, and abounding in wonderful works, to the 
honor of the Most High, the increase and purification 
of the Christian church, and the salvation of both 
his and our souls." 

Though the name of Leibnitz, or Leubniitz, might 
lead to the supposition that the family was of Scla- 
vonian origin, and though many persons, clothed 
with high temporal and spiritual offices, bore this 
name in the middle ages, yet the pedigree of the 
great philosopher cannot be traced farther back than 
to the time of the Protestant Keformation. Both 
his great-grandfather, and his grandfather held hon- 
orable offices under government; and his father, 
Frederic Leibnitz, besides following the calling of a 
notary, was Professor of Philosophy in the Univer- 
sity of Leipsic. The conduct of affairs being more 
congenial to the tastes of the father of Godfrey 
William than the pursuit of letters, he is not known 
to have distinguished himself by any writings of 
importance ; though, in the course of a life of 
earnest and honorable labors, he rendered such prac- 
tical services to society, as secured for him the 
respect, and endeared him to the memory, of his 
fellow-citizens. Frederic Leibnitz w T as thrice mar- 
ried. By his first wife, he had a son, who, after 
having studied the profession of divinity, became a 
teacher in Leipsic; he also had a daughter, who 
married a doctor of theology, and ecclesiastical super- 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 17 

intendent. His second wife was childless. The 
third, Catherine, the mother of Godfrey William, 
was the daughter of a Leipsic civilian, not without 
repute in his day, by the name of William Schmuck. 
Left an orphan at the age of eleven years, she was 
carefully educated, partly in the family of a professor 
of theology, and partly in that of her guardian, a 
professor of law. This lady gave birth to but one 
child besides Godfrey William, — a daughter, Anna 
Catherine, who, marrying a clergyman of Leipsic, 
afterwards left a son, who inherited the fortune of 
his distinguished uncle. 

When no more than six years old, Godfrey 
William had the misfortune to lose his father, who 
died in the fifty-fifth year of his age. The few 
distinct recollections of him retained by the son, are 
given in the following extract from the latter's post- 
humous Personal Recollections. 

" I remember but two circumstances connected 
with my father. The first was, that, as I early 
learned to read, he took great pains to awaken in 
me an interest in history, both sacred and profane. 
This he endeavored to do, partly by means of a 
small book in the German language, and partly by 
repeated oral recitations ; and with such a favorable 
result, as led him to indulge the brightest anticipa- 
tions of my future progress. The other circumstance 
was in fact remarkable, and still remains as fresh in 
my memory as if it had happened but yesterday. 
The day was Sunday; and my mother had gone to 
hear the morning sermon. But my father lay sick 
2 



18 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

in his bed. Before being fully dressed, I was play- 
ing about the stove, and tripping it up and down a 
bench that stood between the wall and the table. 
The nursery-maid wishing to put on my clothes, I, 
full of my pranks, mounted the table ; and, upon her 
attempting to seize me, I stepped backwards, and fell 
down upon the pavement. My father and the maid 
scream out : they look, and see me laughing at them, 
unhurt, though at no less a distance than three 
paces from the table. In this, my father recognized 
the special favor of God, and straightway dispatched 
some one with a note to the church, that, according 
to custom, thanks might be offered after the service. 
This affair became the subject of remark throughout 
the town ; and my father, from this accident, or I 
know not what other dreams and prognostics, was 
led to indulge so great expectations of me, as often 
to expose himself to the playful satire of his friends. 
Unfortunately, however, I was not destined long to 
enjoy his friendly assistance, nor he to rejoice in my 
continued progress." 

After the death of the father of Leibnitz, his 
mother, declining to form a second matrimonial 
connection, devoted herself exclusively to the educa- 
tion of her children. This lady was a pious, discreet 
and gentle-hearted mother; and exerted such a 
happy influence upon her son, that his mind became 
early imbued with the same moral and religious 
principles as had ruled in her own. 

At a tender age, Godfrey William was sent to the 
then highly popular Nicolai-school in Leipsic, where 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 19 

his extraordinary talent early manifested itself in an 
insatiable desire for mental aliment. This, however, 
his narrow-minded teacher strenuously refused to 
supply ; and the eight years old boy did not obtain 
the food his mind so earnestly craved, without a 
contest, of which a circumstantial account is given 
in the Personal Confessions before mentioned. 

" I found," says Leibnitz, " in the progress of time, 
and with the increase of my intellectual strength, 
very great delight in the reading of history ; and the 
German books that fell in my way, I never let pass 
from my hands, without having read them entirely 
through. At school I studied Latin ; and should, 
without doubt, have made the usually slow progress 
in the study of this language, had not accident led 
me to a peculiar method of acquiring it. In the 
house where I resided, I chanced to meet with two 
books, which had been mislaid by some of the stu- 
dents. One of these volumes, I remember, was a 
copy of Livy ; and the other, a chronological The- 
saurus by Sethus Calvisius. These works I seized 
upon with the greatest avidity. Calvisius I under- 
stood with but little difficulty, having a book on 
universal history in the German language, corre- 
sponding with it in many places. In Livy, on the 
contrary, I was often puzzled. Indeed, so little 
acquainted was I with the matters and things des- 
cribed by the ancient waiters, and so unfamiliar with 
the elevated style and diction of the classical histo- 
rians, that, to tell the truth, I did not fully compre- 
hend a single line. But as the edition was an old 



20 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

one, containing figures and wood engravings, I busily- 
pored over these, — read here and there the words 
written beneath them, — and, little concerned about 
the more difficult passages, skipped lightly over what 
I did not understand. But after having gone through 
the entire book in this way several times, and having 
taken it up anew, after the lapse of a considerable 
interval of time, I was able to make out the sense of 
much that had been at first unintelligible. Highly 
delighted with this result, I continued my labors 
without any dictionary, until I penetrated still deeper 
into the meaning of the original, and attained to a 
clear understanding of the greater part of it. Mean- 
while, some w r ords having fallen from me in the 
school respecting these studies, the matter at once 
assumed a suspicious aspect in the eyes of my 
teacher, who proceeded forthwith to inquire how I 
had come to the knowledge of such things. To my 
confessions of what I had been doing, together with 
the narration of several particulars w T hich were fresh 
in my memory, he at the time made no reply. But 
going to my guardians, he required them to see that 
I did not disturb the regular course of my studies by 
reading books adapted only to a later stage of pro- 
gress, — adding that Livy was no more fit for me, 
than buskins for a pigmy. Such books, he said, 
should be taken from me at once ; and I be confined 
to the smaller catechism, and the picture book of 
Comenius. And, without doubt, he would have 
convinced my guardians of the propriety of this 
course, but for the intervention of a friendly noble- 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 21 

man, who happened to be present at the interview- 
Struck with, shall I say the jealousy, or the simplic- 
ity of my teacher, that led him to measure all his 
scholars by one and the same rule, this gentleman, 
whose mind had been liberalized by travel and study, 
proceeded to show my patrons how improper it would 
be to allow the germs of a rising genius to be checked 
in their growth by the coarse severity of ill-judging 
teachers. On the contrary, he said, one should 
favor the promising boy, and grant him the use of 
all possible aids. Thereupon he caused me to be 
sent for, and observing nothing improper or unbe- 
coming in my answers to his interrogatories, he did 
not desist from his benevolent efforts until after 
having extorted from my relatives the promise, that 
access should be allowed me to my father's library, 
which, since his death, had been scrupulously 
guarded by lock and key. This announcement was 
as great a source of delight to me, as if I had found 
a treasure. For I was burning to get sight of the 
ancients, then known to me only by names, — Cicero, 
Quinctilian, Seneca, Pliny, Herodotus, Xenophon, 
Plato, the Scriptores historice Augusta, and the 
numerous Christian fathers, both Greek and Latin. 
These I read as impulse prompted ; and found in 
the society of this circle of authors the highest 
delight. Thus, before having completed my twelfth 
year, I had learned to read the Latin language with 
ease, and had begun to stammer in Greek. Verses 
I wrote with so much readiness and felicity, that one 
of my school-fellows being prevented by illness from 



22 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

fulfilling his appointed task of delivering a discourse 
in rhyme on the evening before Whitsuntide, and no 
one, as there were scarcely three days then remain- 
ing, appearing to take his place, I offered myself to 
undertake the task ; and shutting myself up in my 
room, composed without erasures, between the dawn 
of day and noon, three hundred hexameters, of such 
a character as to gain the approbation of my instruct- 
ors. And these I recited on the day appointed." 

But while Leibnitz was informing his mind by 
the study of the ancient classics, — learning from 
them, as he himself expresses it, to seek in words 
for clearness, and in things for utility, — he was at 
the same time exercising his speculative and inven- 
tive faculties, by original investigations in the science 
of logic. Of these pursuits, in the midst of which 
he first hit upon the thought of forming an universal 
language, to the invention of which he devoted 
considerable attention at different times in the course 
of his life, we take the following notice from his 
Personal Confessions. 

" As now from the study of history, in which, 
even when a child, I took extraordinary delight, and 
from the writing of themes, both in prose and verse, 
which I prosecuted with such interest, as to awaken 
in the minds of my teachers the fear that I should 
never be good for any thing else but scribbling, — as 
now my attention was directed to the study of logic 
and philosophy, and I began to understand some- 
thing of these matters, how many chimeras at once 
started up in my brain ! These I noted down in 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 23 

writing; and by their recital, sometimes filled my 
teachers with astonishment. I not only applied with 
ease the rules of logic to examples, — a feat performed 
by none of my school-mates, — but I also ventured to 
express doubts about the principles of the science, 
and made many original suggestions, which, reduced 
at the time to writing, were read by me in after life 
with no little gratification. Among other things, I 
suggested a doubt respecting the predicaments. As 
there are predicaments, or classes of simple ideas, 
said I, so ought there to be a new kind of predica- 
ments, in which propositions also, or complex terms, 
would be naturally associated together. It must be 
understood that, at that time, I had not so much as 
dreamed of processes of demonstration, and did not 
know that geometricians did the very thing I re- 
quired to be done, when they stated propositions in 
such order that one of them is demonstrated by the 
other. My doubt, accordingly, was an idle one ; but 
still, as my teachers, instead of resolving it, contented 
themselves with merely saying that it did not become 
tyros to make discoveries in science, I continued to 
prosecute my speculations, and proposed to myself 
the task of inventing predicaments of propositions, or 
complex terms. While zealously engaged in the 
investigation of this subject, the singular reflection 
arose in my mind, as if by necessity, whether an 
alphabet of human thought might not be devised ; 
and by means of the combination of the letters of 
this alphabet, and of the analysis of the words formed 
from them, an indefinite number of things be invent- 



24 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

ed and tested. When this thought revealed itself 
clearly to my mind, I shouted for joy, — boyish joy, 
indeed, for the great importance of the subject was 
not then apparent to me. Afterwards, however, the 
farther I progressed in the knowledge of things, the 
more strongly was I confirmed in the resolution to 
continue the prosecution of an inquiry of such mo- 
mentous interest." This subject of an universal 
language we shall have occasion to recur to in a 
subsequent chapter. 

To these logical exercises and meditations of the 
school, Leibnitz added at home, in the secluded 
library of his father, the study of metaphysics, in the 
scholastic writings of the middle ages, and of later 
times ; as well as of theology, in the works of the 
most distinguished controversialists of the Eoman 
and Protestant churches. " I lived at that time," he 
remarks in his Confessions, "with Zabarella, Rubius, 
Fonseca, and other scholastics, with no ordinary 
delight, as I had before done with the historians; 
and carried matters so far, indeed, as to be able to 
read Suarez with as great facility, as other boys of 
the same age read fairy tales and romances. There- 
upon, those who had the charge of my education, — 
to whom I am indebted for nothing so much as for 
not interfering with the course of my studies, — as 
they had before feared that I should become a poet 
by profession, now, not considering that my mind 
could not be satisfied by any one branch of learning, 
were alarmed lest I should for ever lose myself in 
the subtle speculations of the scholastics." 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 25 

The theological zeal of Leibnitz was fed by the pe- 
rusal of such grave and learned works as Lutheri de 
servo arbitrio, Jacobi Andrece Colloquium Mompelgar- 
dense, and Aegidii Hunii Scripta. He took counsel, 
also, of both Lutherans and Calvinists, Jesuits and 
Arminians, Thomists and Jansenists. Instead, how- 
ever, of being confounded and led astray by these 
polemical studies, his youthful faith appears to have 
become the more firmly grounded in the principles 
of the Augsburg Confession; and we are at no loss 
to discern, in the moderate orthodoxy of his early 
theological sentiments, the germs of his celebrated 
Theodicea, and of his later writings on church 
union. 



A f\\ i 



CHAPTER II. 

Leibnitz enters the University of Leipsic — Reads Descartes, and 
rejects the scholastic philosophy — Adam Scherzer and Jacob 
Thorn asius — Pursuits and writings of Leibnitz at the University 
— He reads the writings of Lord Bacon, and other modern phi- 
losophers — Becomes a Nominalist — Enters upon the study of 
jurisprudence as a profession — Goes to the University of Jena— 
Vosius, and Erhard Weigel — Leibnitz returns to the University 
of Leipsic — Becomes master in philosophy — Death of his moth- 
er — He visits his relatives in Brunswick — Essays written by him 
— He is refused the degree of Doctor of Laws — Exiles himself 
from Saxony. 

At the age of fifteen, already a learned scholar 
and a self-taught thinker, Leibnitz entered the Uni- 
versity of his native city. There, as before at the 
preparatory school, he was principally his own 
teacher, and adhered to the same methods of investi- 
gation which he had already applied with so much 
success to the study of logic. " Two things," says 
Leibnitz, in his Fragment of Personal Confessions, 
Cl were of special service to me, even from boyhood ; 
first, that I was- strictly a self-taught scholar ; and 
secondly, that in the study of every science, even at 
the outset, and before I had made myself thoroughly 
acquainted with what was commonly known and 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 27 

received in it, I sought to make original discoveries. 
By this course, I secured the advantage of not en- 
cumbering my mind with things of no value, which 
depended on authority, rather than intrinsic merit ; 
and, also, that of never being satisfied until I had laid 
bare the roots and fibres of every science, and had 
discovered its fundamental principles, upon which 
all subordinate views and minor details naturally 
depended." 

It was about the time of his passing from the 
school to the University, that a fixed and decisive 
direction was given to Leibnitz's philosophical views 
and studies. The writings of Descartes fell into his 
hands ; and he was accordingly compelled to make 
choice between the ancient scholastic philosophy 
and modern physics. After long days of reflection, 
he decided in favor of the latter, though without 
losing sight of the ancients, especially Aristotle. 
Of the studies and meditations which led to this 
decision, we take the following account from a letter 
written by Leibnitz, in his old age, to Raymond of 
Montmort. 

" I was still a child," says the writer, " when I 
first became acquainted with Aristotle ; and even the 
scholastics were at an early age not repulsive to me, 
— a circumstance I do not by any means regret. 
Later in life, Plato and Plotinus, not to mention the 
other philosophers of antiquity whom I consulted, 
afforded me some satisfaction. On leaving the 
lower school, however, then a lad of fifteen, I fell 
upon the new philosophers ; and, as I well remem- 



28 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

ber, it was in a small grove in the neighborhood of 
Leipsic, called the Rose vale (Rosenthal), that, walk- 
ing to and fro, in pleasing and solitary meditation, I 
was wont to take counsel with myself whether or 
not I should retain the substantial forms of the 
schoolmen. The mechanical philosophy gained at 
length the upper hand, and led me to the study of 
mathematics." 

As at the school, so at the University, the course 
of studies ordinarily pursued, and the views of 
science generally entertained, by no means met the 
wants of our young universal genius. The lectures on 
mathematics, by a certain John Kiirm, did not carry 
the student of those days beyond the Elements of 
Euclid; and these teachings being so obscure as to 
be unintelligible to the audience of tyros, Leibnitz 
sought by questions for such explanations from the 
worthy professor, as might enable him afterwards to 
enlighten the benighted intellects of his fellow-stu- 
dents. Leibnitz, therefore, did not advance beyond 
the threshold of mathematical science, until he went 
to Jena, to attend on the instructions of Weigel, who 
introduced him to a more thorough knowledge' of 
arithmetical analysis and combination. Although 
these deficiencies were afterwards most abundantly 
supplied, yet the recollection of his early superficial 
training in this branch of knowledge, was, even late 
in life, a source of poignant regret. " The study of 
the mathematics," he once said, in speaking of his 
mathematical education, " was entirely neglected in 
the places where my mind received its early disci- 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 29 

pline ; and had I, like Pascal, spent my youth in 
Paris, I should perhaps have sooner made original 
contributions to science." 

In philosophy, Leibnitz attended, during the first 
year of his academic course, the lectures of John 
Adam Scherzer, and Jacob Thomasius. The former, 
a representative of the pure scholasticism of the 
middle ages, developed in controversy such a vigor- 
ous and subtle power of intellect, as secured for him 
the respect of his pupil, and afterwards occasioned 
his being favorably mentioned in the Theodicea. 
Thomasius, father of the distinguished Christian 
Thomasius, can with more propriety, however, be 
called the teacher of Leibnitz, as the latter has him- 
self testified. This philosopher belonged to the 
more elegant of the Peripatetics ; and though born, 
according to the judgment of his pupil, too late to 
take an active part in the restoration of science, he 
was the first who introduced into Germany the 
thorough study of the history of philosophy. Fore- 
seeing, moreover, even at the University, the future 
greatness of Leibnitz, he encouraged him in his 
studies ; and bound his pupil to him by ties of esteem 
and gratitude, that lasted, as their mutual corre- 
spondence testifies, long after the dissolution of their 
academic relations. 

In connection with these two names, we may 
mention the first printed treatise of Leibnitz, written 
on the occasion of his promotion to the degree of 
Bachelor of Philosophy, and entitled, De Principio 
Individui. The author was only seventeen years of 



30 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

age ; but Thomasius publicly declared that he was 
" already equal to the investigation of the most ab- 
struse and complicated controversies." It would 
appear as if the youthful candidate had selected the 
theme of his essay for the purpose of displaying the 
astonishing range of his reading in the scholastic 
philosophy, and the facility with which he employed 
its methods of reasoning. Though he had himself 
for ever renounced the scholastic views and methods, 
still the selection of a theme of this character must 
be considered as an exceedingly significant fact in 
the history of his philosophical progress, for the 
principle of individuality was afterwards made by 
him the corner-stone of his system of metaphysics. 
Leibnitz, moreover, disclosed the starting-point of 
his philosophy, when, in the spirit of the new phys- 
ical sciences of his time, though by no means in 
conformity with the prevailing sentiment of the 
German universities, he declared himself in favor of 
the doctrines of the Nominalists, as opposed to the 
Realists. The more be became acquainted with the 
writings of the reformers of philosophy, so much the 
more rapidly did his opposition increase to the un- 
fruitful speculations of the scholastics. It was at 
this period that he became acquainted with the 
views of Lord Bacon, as stated in the De Augmentis 
Scientiarum, with the most stirring thoughts of 
Cardanus and Campenella, and with specimens of a 
better philosophy in the writings of Kepler, Galileo 
and Descartes. He lived, also, as if in the presence 
of Aristotle, Plato, Archimedes, Hipparchus, Dio- 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 31 

phantus, and the other great teachers of the human 
race. And thus associated with the illustrious 
spirits of the past, he took courage ; and, no longer 
regarding the short-sighted views of the minds by 
which he was surrounded, held fast to the belief in 
the advancement of science and the progress of 
mankind. 

It was now time for the young scholar to make 
selection of one of the learned professions. Inspired 
with the determination of striving in life after what- 
ever was highest and best, he was desirous of enter- 
ing upon such a professional career as would enable 
him, while laboring for his own personal interests, to 
confer at the same time the greatest benefits upon 
his fellow-citizens. His relatives and teachers con- 
sidering the legal profession as the best adapted to 
the free development of his talents, and the practical 
realization of his liberal principles, urged him to 
devote himself to the study of jurisprudence. Lis- 
tening to these counsels, and influenced somewhat, 
no doubt, by the example of his father, and his still 
more distinguished uncle, John Strauch, of Bruns- 
wick, Leibnitz finally decided to enroll himself as a 
student of law. For some account of his progress 
in this branch of knowledge, we recur again to his 
Fragment of Confessions. 

" Having made choice of the profession of the 
law," says Leibnitz, " I gave up all other pursuits, 
and confined my attention exclusively to that occu- 
pation upon which I was to depend for a livelihood. 
The knowledge previously acquired of history and 



32 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

philosophy, I now found, however, of essential ser- 
vice to me. It enabled me readily to apprehend the 
theory and principles of the science of law ; and not 
. setting a very high value on that which it cost me 
so little trouble to understand, I immediately entered 
upon the study of the practical part of my profession. 
A friend of mine, an assessor of the supreme court 
of justice in Leipsic, whose house I often visited, 
rendered me much assistance, by allowing me the 
perusal of legal documents, and teaching me by 
examples the methods of drawing up judgments. 
Accordingly, I very soon worked my way into the 
heart of the science of jurisprudence. The employ- 
ment of a judge appeared to me very attractive ; but, 
on the other hand, the artifices of the advocates, 
against which I firmly set my countenance, were so 
repulsive, that I never afterwards would engage in 
the business of bringing actions, although, in the 
estimation of all persons, I "wrote my mother tongue 
with great correctness and dexterity. In this wise I 
passed my seventeenth year, — happy above all 
things that I had directed my studies, not by the 
opinions of others, but according to my own good 
pleasure. As a consequence of this, I invariably 
took the first rank in all discussions and exercises, 
whether public or private, as not only my teachers 
testified, but also the printed congratulations and 
carmina of my school-fellows." 

Not long after Leibnitz had obtained his baccalau- 
reate, the course of his philosophical and legal 
studies at Leipsic was interrupted by a visit of six 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 33 

months to Jena, the University of which place, since 
the reforms introduced by Ernest the Pious, had 
enjoyed a high reputation. Here the young civilian 
attended lectures on jurisprudence, by Falkner ; and 
on history, by the learned Yosius. What most 
attracted him, however, was the instruction and 
society of the before-mentioned Erhard Weigel, 
professor of mathematics, between whom and Leib- 
nitz there existed a kind of spiritual relationship. 
Weigel, besides being a mathematician, — although 
by no means a perfect master of his science, and not 
initiated into the views of the distinguished math- 
ematical teachers in other parts of Europe, — had 
also some reputation as a moral philosopher, and an 
original writer on natural law. It was said at Jena, 
when Leibnitz was there, that Pufendorf had bor- 
rowed his since so celebrated Elements of Natural 
Law from the manuscripts of Weigel. The original 
powers of this author were displayed, not only in 
propounding various new, though somewhat fantas- 
tic theories in the sciences of mechanics and astron- 
omy, but also, especially, in the application of the 
doctrine of numbers to the science of morals. Weigel, 
moreover, was highly instrumental in bringing the 
reigning scholastic philosophers into disrepute in the 
German universities ; and very much to their vexa- 
tion, though to the amusement of his hearers, he was 
w^ont to drive his opponents into a corner, by requir- 
ing them to express their empty Latin terminology 
in the German language. The endeavors of the 
ablest minds of the times, however, to harmonize the 

3 



34 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

true doctrines of Aristotle with the theories of the 
modern metaphysicians and natural philosophers, 
were also participated in by Weigel, whose views on 
this subject deeply interested the inquiring mind of 
his young pupil. 

During the residence of Leibnitz in Jena, he was 
introduced by Vosius into an academic society, com- 
posed of professors and students, under the name of 
Societas Qu&rentium, the members of which assem- 
bled once a week, to interchange views respecting 
the merits of new or old books of any celebrity. 
This society continued in existence so late as the 
time when Schiller studied and taught at Jena. 
Leibnitz belonged to similar societies, also, at Leip- 
sic, the papers of which are said to be still preserved 
in the library of the University. 

On his return to Leipsic, Leibnitz diligently 
prosecuted his professional studies, under the direc- 
tion of Professors . Quirinus Schacher and Leonard 
Schwendendorfer. Other branches of learning, 
however, were not neglected. On the contrary, 
Leibnitz was actively engaged in collecting those 
almost boundless treasures of knowledge, which 
made him the wonder of all who knew him. But 
notwithstanding the accumulation of these stores of 
learning, no relaxation was made in his favor of the 
rule requiring the student of law to spend five years 
in his profession, before being admitted to the honors 
of a doctorate. This was to Leibnitz a source of 
considerable regret. 

A painful interruption was occasioned in these 
pursuits, by the death of the mother of Leibnitz, in 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 35 

1664. Not long before this afflicting event, her 
promising son, after having sustained a creditable 
examination, had been promoted to the degree of a 
Master in Philosophy. He therefore now found 
himself placed in a situation, both in science and in 
life, requiring greater self-reliance than he had been 
before called upon to manifest. An occasion for the 
exercise of this virtue in real life presented itself 
immediately. His mother, on her decease, left to 
him and his sister a small and involved property, 
in which his maternal aunt, wife of the distin- 
guished civilian, John Strauch, of Brunswick, was 
also interested. Leibnitz, in consequence, was 
obliged to visit Brunswick ; and though he was un- 
successful in accomplishing the object of his journey, 
yet the acquaintance of his learned uncle did not fail 
to exert upon him an important and encouraging influ- 
ence. Strauch quickly discerned the great capac- 
ities of the young jurist; and some time afterwards 
sent him a learned epistle on the branch of law with 
which his nephew was then occupied. It is to be 
regretted, that in consequence of the misunderstand- 
ing and variance which at that time sprang up 
between the two families, the connection between 
the uncle and nephew was of very short duration. 

In the same year. Leibnitz composed his essay as 
a -Master in Philosophy, under the title of Specimen 
Difficultatis in Jure, sen Qu&stiones Philosophic^ 
amoeniores ex Jure collectce; and in the year follow- 
ing, he wrote and defended two treatises on Roman 
law, entitled, Be Conditionibus. These compositions, 
revised and more or less modified, were published in 



36 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

1672, in a collection of essays on legal subjects, 
tinder the title of Specimina Juris. In 1666, with a 
view of obtaining a place afterwards in the philo- 
sophical faculty, he also defended a treatise, with the 
title of Disputatio Arithmetica de Complezionibus, 
which was published in the same year as a part of a 
treatise, entitled, De Arte Combinatoria. This last 
publication is remarkable on account of its uniting in 
a focus all the manifold philosophical views and 
tendencies of this precocious thinker ; and still more 
so, by reason of its containing the germs of the sub- 
sequent discoveries of the differential calculus, and 
of the plan of an universal language. Leibnitz 
himself afterwards said, that he considered this 
treatise as an announcement of these discoveries, 
and as a proof that they had been lying in his mind 
in embryo a long time before they were fully devel- 
oped and published to the world. 

Leibnitz having now completed his twentieth year, 
the time had arrived for him to apply for the degree 
of Doctor of Laws ; and after having obtained this 
highest academic honor, to enter upon the business 
of professional life. But, strange to say, this honor 
was refused him! The true reasons of this surpris- 
ing act of injustice never fully transpired, until the 
following explanation was given in his Fragment of 
Confessions. 

" The faculty of law in the University of Leipsic," 
says Leibnitz, "is composed of twelve assessors, who 
are not professors. These persons occupy them- 
selves much more with legal pleadings, than with 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 37 

lectures and literary disputations. Into this faculty, 
the doctors of laws in Leipsic are admitted in the 
order of the date of their doctorate, whenever vacan- 
cies are created by the retiring of any of the mem- 
bers. I saw that in case I obtained my doctorate at 
an early day, I should be one of the first to be ad- 
mitted into the faculty, and be in a fair way of 
making my fortune. But here a great contention 
arose. Some of the candidates were desirous that 
they alone should be raised to the honors of a degree; 
and that the younger aspirants should be compelled 
modestly to wait until the next promotion. A ma- 
jority of the faculty fell in with this proposition. 
But no sooner did I discover the finesse of my rivals, 
than I changed my plans, and resolved on expatri- 
ating myself." 

This resolution was carried into effect; and thereby 
lost Leipsic and Saxony the great man who wafl 
led to become the pride of the German nation. 
Leibnitz, on his part, never expressed a desire to 
return to the land of his birth; and it was said, that 
it was not without reluctance that he ever afterwards 
set his foot within his natal city. Certain it is, that 
no proposition was ever known to have been made 
by Saxony, for the purpose of effecting the return of 
her highly gifted son. The memory of the young 
jurist, in the city of his fathers, has passed away; 
and the curious traveller may inquire in vain of the 
good citizens of Leipsic for the house, or even the 
street, in which the great philosopher first saw the 
li£ht. 



CHAPTER III. 

Leibnitz receives his doctorate at the University of Altdorf— De- 
clines a professorship — Spends the winter of 1667 in Nurenberg 
— Is made secretary of a society of Rosicmsians. 

It was in the autumn of the year 1666, that 
Leibnitz bade adieu to his friends, and set out from 
Leipsic, with the design of seeking among strangers 
the honors denied him in his own country. The 
place to which he directed his steps, was the Uni- 
versity of Altdorf, within the territory, and under the 
superintendence, of the imperial city of Nurenberg. 
Here, without delay, Leibnitz was admitted to an 
examination for the degree of Doctor of Laws, and 
to a defence of his already completed treatise, De 
Casibus Perplezis. This essay was printed in Alt- 
dorf, and afterwards inserted in the before mentioned 
collection of the Specimina Juris. Supported by a 
most brilliant oral examination and disputation in 
public, it procured for the meritorious candidate his 
doctorate with universal approbation. Of this cere- 
mony he ever retained a lively recollection ; and has 
left us the following pleasing description of it in his 
Confessions. 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 39 

" In my twenty-first year," says Leibnitz, " I re- 
ceived the degree of a doctor at the University of 
Altdorf, with great applause. In my public dispu- 
tation, I expressed my thoughts so clearly and felic- 
itously, that not only were the hearers astonished at 
this extraordinary and, especially in a jurist, unex- 
pected degree of acuteness ; but even my opponents 
publicly declared that they were extremely well 
satisfied. . . . Two superintendents of the schools, 
who were present at the promotion, took a peculiar 
way to express their admiration. For as I pro- 
nounced two discourses on the occasion, one in prose 
and the other in verse, the first was so perfect in 
form that it had the appearance of having been 
previously committed to memory. But as I proceed- 
ed to the recitation of the verses, being compelled 
from short-sightedness to hold the paper near to my 
eyes, they wondered that I had not rather committed 
the poetry to memory, as this could have been done 
more easily. Thereto I replied, that they were in 
error: I had not committed the prose oration to 
memory, but so far as the words were concerned, it 
had been entirely extemporaneous. As they could 
scarcely credit this, I pointed them to the example of 
the clergy, who, satisfying themselves with making 
an imperfect draft of their sermons, vary from it at 
pleasure, on delivery ; and assured them, that what 
these clerical orators did in the German language, I 
could do with equal ease in the Latin. Thereupon 
I exhibited to them my manuscript, from the inspec- 
tion of which they convinced themselves that it 



40 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

contained very different words from those employed 
in the delivery of the oration. This performance 
gained for me great reputation in Nurenberg, so that 
soon afterwards the principal clergyman of the city, 
in behalf of the board of education, informed me that 
if I were disposed to accept a professorial chair in 
the University, the honor might be obtained for me. 
But my thoughts were turned in an entirely different 
direction." Leibnitz thought, it is most probable, 
that a reform of the sciences, such as was then 
already more or less distinctly contemplated by him, 
could hardly be effected within the narrow limits of 
an university ; and though undoubtedly conscious of 
possessing the intellectual and oratorical gifts requi- 
site for such a station, he preferred bravely to follow 
the intimations of the genius within, which warned 
him that the point esteemed by most scholars as the 
goal of their hopes and endeavors, was for him but 
the starting-point of his career. 

It was natural that Leibnitz, cut off from those 
pecuniary prospects which had spread themselves 
out before him in the place of his birth, should look 
around for some means of support, in the strange 
land whither his sensitive and active spirit had 
allured him. The city which most readily presented 
itself as a place of residence, was Nurenberg, into 
whose learned circles his fame had already preceded 
him. This small but opulent republic, comprising, 
besides the metropolis, seven cities, a large number 
of villages and castles, together with the University 
of Altdorf, exhibited at that period the singular and 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 41 

attractive spectacle of a free, active, and peculiarly 
German mode of life. The ancient industrial activ- 
ity of Germany, every where else prostrated to the 
earth, had taken refuge, at that time, in the free 
cities of Augsburg and Nuremberg. This state of 
prosperity, this general activity of all classes of 
society, had preserved the inhabitants of these cities 
from that servile imitation of the French, which, 
prevailing throughout the country, and especially 
within the sphere of polite and courtly life, had 
undermined the pristine virtue of the German char- 
acter. To this high tone of life and manners, Leib- 
nitz was not insensible. For the fine arts, however, 
of which the birth-place of Albert Diirer presented 
so many splendid monuments, no taste had at that 
time been developed, either in the public mind, or in 
that of Leibnitz. He was more attracted by the 
useful, and also by those mystic arts, which, in the 
then infancy of natural philosophy, were intimately 
allied with the study of nature. 

At the time Leibnitz took up his residence in 
Nuremberg, there existed in that city, as in many of 
the larger towns of Germany, a secret society of 
Rosicrusians. These considered themselves as adepts 
in the science of chemistry, and, zealously engaged 
in the business of experimenting, were not without 
some faint hopes of one day falling upon the precious 
discovery of the philosopher's stone. To penetrate 
within the charmed circle of this mysterious frater- 
nity, appeared to the ardent spirit of the young 
philosopher an object well worthy of his ambition. 



42 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

But young, and without influential friends, he could 
devise no better way of gratifying his desires, than 
by resorting to a singular artifice, to which, even in 
his old age, he could not refer without a smile. As 
we are informed by his secretary, Eckhart, he con- 
sulted the most profound books on chemistry to 
which he could get access, and noted down the 
obscurest forms of expression used in them. With 
the help of these terms and phrases, he wrote to the 
directors of the society a learned epistle, which he 
himself did not understand, and humbly sued for 
admission. One of the directors, a reverend clergy- 
man, having, on reading the communication, no 
suspicion but that the youthful applicant was a 
regular adept in the science, not only introduced 
him into the laboratory of the society, but even went 
so far as to offer him the situation of secretary and 
assistant, with a small salary. This the young 
adventurer accepted, of course. His business in this 
office consisted in registering the experiments of the 
laboratory, and in making extracts from scientific 
works, for the use of the most distinguished mem- 
bers. In this singular occupation Leibnitz remained 
through the winter of 1666; not long enough, in- 
deed, to realize the splendid dream of alchemy, but 
at least a sufficient time to convince him of its dan- 
gerous folly, and to qualify him for warning many 
persons, in the course of his life, against the fascina- 
ting arts of the " gold-making fraternity." 



CHAPTER IV. 

Leibnitz becomes acquainted with von Boineburg — Goes to Frank- 
fort — Meets with Spener, the pietist — Publishes his Methodus 
nova Jurisprudential — Is engaged by the Elector of Mentz in 
revising the laws of the German empire — Hermann Coming — 
Literary and diplomatic labors of Leibnitz — His theological 
writings — He edits the Anti-Barbarus of Marius .Nizolius — At- 
tempt to reconcile the doctrines of Aristotle with modern phi- 
losophy — His theory of an universal ether — Possibility of tran- 
substantiation, and the real presence — His fame and honors — 
correspondence with Anthony Arnaud, and Spinoza. 

In the spring of 1667, Leibnitz met in Nurenberg 
with a person whose acquaintance was destined to 
decide the course of his whole future life. This 
he distinguished statesman and scholar, John 
Christian von Boineburg, who had been for a long 
time first minister of the noted Elector of Mentz, 
John Philip von Schonborn ; but who, at the period 
of which we write, was residing in official disgrace 
and learned leisure, at Frankfort on the Main. 
Boineburg, who, like most of the great men of those 
days, dabbled a little in chemistry, became acquaint- 
ed with Leibnitz through one of his alchemistic 
friends ; or, according to another report, accidentally 



44 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

fell in with him at the hotel where he was staying 
during his visit to Nurenberg. The sagacious 
courtier, discovering at their first interview the ex- 
traordinary talents of the philosopher of twenty-one, 
and forming at once the highest expectations of his 
future career, invited him to transfer his residence to 
Frankfort. This proposal Leibnitz accepted, though 
without any definite prospects even for the immedi- 
ate future. 

In Frankfort, Leibnitz found much greater facil- 
ities than he had enjoyed at Nurenberg, for mingling 
in the society of men both of learning and of business. 
Among other remarkable persons, he here made the 
acquaintance of the famous, though then youthful, 
divine, Philip Jacob Spener, father of the so called 
sect of German pietists. But from the very begin- 
ning of his residence in Frankfort, Leibnitz turned 
his thoughts towards the neighboring court of Mentz, 
the illustrious head of which was the munificent 
patron of every kind of talent. Impelled by the 
desire of bringing himself within the notice of this 
prince, and also encouraged by the solicitations of 
his friends, he published in 1668 an essay, entitled, 
Methodus nova Discendce DocendcBquejJurispruden- 
tice, and preceded by an eloquent dedication to the 
Elector. This production, though composed in the 
course of a journey, without books, or any other 
helps, is exceedingly rich in valuable ideas ; and is 
remarkable as being the first of Leibnitz's reforma- 
tory writings. Composed not altogether without 
reference to Lord Bacon's great work, De Augmentis 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 45 

Scientiariim, its chief merit consisted in the ability 
and learning with which it exposed the deficiencies 
of the existing systems of laws, and pointed out the 
appropriate remedies. The new ideas of the young 
reformer created no little sensation, at the time, even 
among the most intelligent statesmen of the electoral 
court. In the eighteenth century, moreover, they 
were thought worthy by the learned Christian Wolf 
of being brought out in a new edition; and were 
also translated, not many years since, by a French 
jurist, into the language of his countrymen. 

This essay, presented by Leibnitz in person to the 
Elector, procured for the author the favorable notice 
of this accomplished prince, and, afterwards, an 
honorable appointment in his service. It happened 
at that time, that a learned jurist, by the name of 
Herman Andrew Lasser, was engaged, by order of 
the government, in revising the system of Roman 
laws, for the purpose of better adapting it to the 
existing circumstances of the German empire. In 
this important undertaking, Leibnitz was associated 
with Lasser, as an assistant ; and was allowed a 
small weekly compensation from the electoral treas- 
ury. In his new vocation, Leibnitz labored with 
such diligence as soon to take the lead in the joint 
enterprise ; and a pamphlet, published in 166S by 
the two jurists, entitled, Ratio Corporis Juris recon- 
cinnan&i, was from the pen of the younger associate. 
He at that time also wrote a short essay on the same 
subject, in the German language. This, at first 
circulated in manuscript, was not formally published 



46 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

until after the author's death. The great labor of 
revising the laws, however, interrupted as it was, on 
the part of the younger jurist, by a great variety of 
other pursuits, was never fully completed; and, 
indeed, the gradual introduction afterwards into 
Germany of new and original codes, rendered the 
accomplishment of the undertaking, even in the 
opinion of Leibnitz himself, quite inexpedient. 

Baron von Boineburg soon became warmly inter- 
ested in the character and progress of his young 
protege, whom he thus introduces by letter, under 
date of April 22d, 1670, to the acquaintance of the 
noted statesman, Hermann Conring. " He is a 
young man from Leipsic, of four and twenty, doctor 
of laws, and learned beyond all credence. Being 
acquainted with the whole course of philosophy, he 
is a good mediator between the old and new systems. 
He is a mathematician, also, understanding physics, 
medicine, and the whole range of mechanics ; and 
is, withal, ardent and industrious. In religion he is 
an independent thinker ; and, for the rest, belongs to 
your [the Lutheran] church. The theory, and, what 
is to be wondered at, the practice, also, of law, is 
perfectly familiar to him. He is devoted to you with 
love and veneration." 

During his residence both in Frankfort and Mentz, 
Leibnitz was, by turns, the secretary, librarian, ad- 
vocate, counsellor and factor of his patron, w r ho well 
knew how to make use of the various talents of his 
youthful favorite. One whole winter was spent by 
the latter in superintending the formation of a cata- 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 47 

logue of the extensive library of the baron ; and 
another, in assisting him to prepare for a mission he 
was about to undertake to Poland, as an advocate of 
the claims of the Palsgrave of Xeuburg to the throne 
of that country, rendered vacant by the abdication of 
John Casimir. To produce an impression upon the 
Polish nation in favor of the Palsgrave, Leibnitz 
drew up an able and learned state paper, which was 
published in 1669, under the title of Specimen De- 
monstrationum Politicarum pro Rege Polonorum 
do, auctore Georgio Ulicovio Lithuano. The 
authorship of this pamphlet was, at the time, kept 
strictly secret. Even the Palsgrave, for whom the 
writer had entered the lists against his numerous 
competitors, never discovered the name of his masked 
champion. Leibnitz himself first disclosed it, many 
years afterwards, to the then electoral house of 
Neuburg, — saying that it had been his intention to 
intimate his claims to the authorship, by the corre- 
spondence between the initials of his real name 
(Godefredus Vuilelmus Leibnitius), and of the as- 
sumed one. The result of the baron's mission is 
well known. The Poles, passing by all the foreign 
candidates for the honors of royalty, selected a prince 
from their own nation. But, though returning dis- 
appointed, Boineburg spoke to his friends none the 
less warmly in praise of his young assistant, whom, 
in his enthusiasm, he called summits summarum 
rerum tractor et actor. 

An attempt was for the first time made in the 
above-mentioned pamphlet, to apply the method of 



48 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

mathematical demonstration, previously employed 
by Spinoza in philosophy, and by Hobbes in natural 
law, to the solution of a question in politics and 
diplomacy; — an undertaking, indeed, that betrayed 
the youthfulness of the author, who was at the time 
but two and twenty. The views introduced, how- 
ever, respecting the science of natural law, contained 
the characteristic features of the theory afterwards 
developed more fully by Leibnitz ; but what gave to 
this production some value in the eyes of its author, 
even late in life, was the circumstance, that moral 
and political principles were here treated as elements 
in the calculation of probabilities. On the whole, 
the pamphlet created, at the time of its publication, 
no slight sensation among the then masters of polit- 
ical science. 

In the course of the ten years immediately prece- 
ding Leibnitz's residence in Mentz, considerable 
exertion had been made by certain leading Protest- 
ants, particularly Hermann Conring and the theolog- 
ical faculty of the liberal University of Helmstadt, 
and, on the other hand, by the Catholic chapters of 
Mentz and Cologne, to effect an union of the Pro- 
testant and Catholic churches, and thereby bring 
about a consolidation of the whole Germanic nation. 
At the same time, in consequence of the prevalence 
of the natural and mechanical philosophy of the 
schools of Bacon and Gassendi, and also of the 
refuge granted in his dominions, by the enlightened 
Elector of the Palatinate, to the Socinians expelled 
in 1663 from Poland, the doctrines of Socinianism, 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 49 

and, — if we may credit the complaints of the theolo- 
gians of those days, — of atheism, also, were begin- 
ning to take root in Germany. Boineburg, therefore, 
who possessed a deeply religious nature, and who, 
besides, had become a zealous convert from Luther- 
anism and Catholicism, became deeply interested, 
both in the project of uniting the Protestants and 
Catholics, and, also, in the efforts of the partizans of 
the orthodox churches to refute the opinions of the 
free-thinkers. In furthering these plans, the sympa- 
thies and services of Leibnitz were readily enlisted. 
In 166S, accordingly, he was induced to write a brief 
argument in defence of the doctrines of the divine 
existence, and the immortality of the human soul, 
against the attacks of the materialists and atheists. 
The manuscript, given to Boineburg, and afterwards 
to Spener and others, was finally published by 
Gottlieb Spizelius, in his Epistola ad Reiserum 
de eradicando Atheismo, under the title, selected by 
the editor, of Confessio Natures contra Atheistas. 
This argument, which continued to satisfy the 
mind of its author hardly for a single year, was, 
in fact, no more than a revised edition of an essay 
on the same subject, published two years before, 
in connection with his dissertation, De Arte Com- 
binatoria. Not dissimilar in its contents to the 
preceding essay, was another brief paper, composed 
by Leibnitz in 1669, and published under the title of 
Defensio Trinitatis per nova reperta Logica, contra 
Epistolam Ariani. In this paper, written at the 
request of Boineburg, who had found himself no 
match in the polemical arena for so practised a dis- 



50 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

putant as the Pole, Thissowatius, Leibnitz, without 
attempting to adduce new proofs of the doctrine of 
the trinity, contented himself with exposing the weak 
points in the reasoning of his opponents, — a task for 
which his early logical training most admirably 
qualified him. This method of argumentation always 
appeared to him abundantly adequate for satisfying 
the minds of those who were disturbed by doubts 
respecting the soundness of any part of the Luther- 
an theology, as well as for refuting the opinions of 
heretics. 

At the solicitation of Boineburg, immediately after 
his return from Poland, Leibnitz was induced to edit 
a new edition of a learned work of the Italian, Mari- 
us Nizolius, originally published in 1553, with the 
title of Anti-Barbarus, seu de veris principiis et vera 
ratione pkilosophandi contra Pseudopkilosophos. — 
The new edition contained an essay by the editor, on 
the style of the original work, and also on the pecu- 
liar advantages of the German language as a medium 
of philosophical communication. The work itself of 
Nizolius, being an attack upon the scholastic philos- 
ophy, rather on account of its barbarous style, than 
its faulty methods, does not appear to have been 
considered, even by Leibnitz, as possessing, at the 
time of its republication, much other than an histor- 
ical value. The responsibility of the undertaking 
was thrown by the editor upon his Mecaenas, to 
whom the new edition was dedicated. 

The writings of Leibnitz at this period of his life, 
show that he was earnestly engaged in attempting to 
reconcile the doctrines of the ancient peripatetics 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 51 

with the discoveries of the modern experimental 
philosophers ; and with the hope of thereby gaining 
an independent foundation, whereon to rear a meta- 
physical system of his own. In this transitional 
state of mind, he busied himself, in the year 1670, 
with the excogitation of a cosmological hypothesis, 
published soon afterwards in two parts, under the 
title of Hypothesis Physica nova, sew Theoria motus 
concreti, and Theoria motus abstracti. The first 
part, with the view of making, his name known to 
the friends of science without the limits of his native 
land, was dedicated by the author to the Eoyal So- 
ciety in London. This was probably done at the 
suggestion of Boineburg, who was a friend of the 
secretary, Oldenburg. Having been favorably re- 
ported upon by the distinguished mathematician, 
John Wallis, the essay was graciously received by 
the Society, and gratefully acknowledged through 
their secretary. The second part was dedicated to 
the Royal Academy in Paris, and was brought before 
that learned body by the king's librarian, Carcavi, to 
whom the author had been recommended by the 
French geometrician, Ferrand. This essay, in both 
its parts, which was considered by the author him- 
self as no more than a " dream in natural philoso- 
phy," rejecting the vortices of the Cartesian theory, 
represented all the motions of the universe as derived 
from one universal movement. The principle or 
cause of this movement was symbolically represented 
by a fine ether, analogous to light, and which, enter- 
ing the pores of physical substances in the direction 
of the earth's axis, produces under different condi- 



52 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

tions all the various phenomena usually attributed to 
the principles of gravitation and elasticity. In this 
theory, the distinction between body and spirit was 
almost lost sight of, as appears in the declaration, 
omne corpus est mens moment anea ; and the views 
expressed in it, respecting infinitely small and divis- 
ible particles of substance, may be regarded as the 
germs of the author's doctrine of monads. 

Although the hypothesis of an universal ether was 
never entirely given up by Leibnitz, who remained 
to the last unable to adopt the purely mathematical 
conceptions of Newton on the subject of motion, yet 
the then prevalent view of nature, as a great self- 
regulating machine, was soon laid aside by him. 
This change of opinion appears to have taken place 
in consequence of some theological speculations into 
which he was led by Boineburg's desire to bring 
about a union of the Protestant and Catholic churches. 
The Cartesian doctrine, that material existence is 
composed of figure, extension and motion, appearing 
to Leibnitz to stand in direct contradiction to both 
the Catholic dogma of transubstantiation and the 
Lutheran belief in the real presence, his inquiries 
finally led him to the opinion, that the existence of 
material bodies supposes something previous to and 
independent of extension. This something he de- 
nominated substance, conceiving of it as combining 
together both the spiritual and the material element. 
And by this supposition of an immaterial principle 
in matter, he thought to do away, not only the ap- 
pearance of absurdity in these theological dogmas, 
but, also, by showing their essential identity, to 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 53 

bridge the chasm between the two churches. Later 
in life, Leibnitz gave up this mediating theory, as 
well indeed as all hopes of finding a better one to 
take its place ; but still he ever held fast to his view 
of substance as the union of the material and the 
immaterial principles, and made it occupy a very 
important place in his peculiar system of philosophy. 
The project, likewise entertained at this time by 
Leibnitz, of uniting the Protestant and Catholic 
churches, was never altogether relinquished by him. 
He himself, however, remained true to the faith of 
his fathers; though his relatives in Saxony were 
not a little distressed, about this period, by reports 
that came to them of his having been converted to 
Romanism. 

Meanwhile, the fame of Leibnitz, from his advan- 
tageous connection with a statesman so widely 
known as Boineburg, was gradually extending itself 
to the neighboring courts of Germany. As early as 
the close of the year 1669, the Duke of Hanover 
wished to engage him in his service ; and a place, 
also, was offered him at the court of the reigning 
prince of Durlach. Both of these proposals, how- 
ever, were declined, — the latter at the earnest solic- 
itation of Lasser, with whom Leibnitz was associated 
in revising the laws. In the following year, how- 
ever, he accepted the office of counsellor in the 
College of Appeals at Mentz, — the highest judicial 
tribunal in the electoral archbishopric. Leibnitz, at 
the time of this appointment, was not fully twenty- 
four years of age. 

It was about this period, also, that Leibnitz com- 



54 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

menced that epistolary correspondence with men 
distinguished for learning and genius, which, in the 
course of his life, extended itself to almost all quar- 
ters of civilized Europe, and which, in the absence 
of the literary journals of recent times, formed a very 
important bond of intercourse between him and the 
isolated scholars of the seventeenth century. 
Through the intervention of von Boineburg, he 
entered into a correspondence on the subject of the 
union of the Protestant and Catholic churches, with 
Anthony Arnaud, a noted disciple of Cartesius, and 
member of the society of Port-Royalists. He also 
sent a short memorial, on the improvement of lenses, 
to that most profound metaphysician of his times, 
Benedict Spinoza. Having gotten the notion that a 
new kind of lenses might be formed, by means of 
which the true distances and sizes of objects might 
be measured from one and the same point of view, 
Leibnitz wrote to Spinoza, to ask his opinion of the 
proposed invention. This practical optician replied 
to his youthful and unknown correspondent, with his 
usual urbanity and obligingness, though forced to 
confess himself unable fully to understand the nature 
of the designed improvement. A letter written by 
Leibnitz, through the medium of Oldenburg, to an- 
other deep and original thinker of the age, Thomas 
Hobbes, as well as a second one, afterwards sent to 
the same person from Paris, appears never to have 
received an answer. These letters treated of some 
of the published views of the English philosopher, 
and were partly complimentary, partly critical. 



CHAPTER V. 



Leibnitz becomes engaged in politics — Is present at a conference 
of German princes at Schwalbach — Writes a pamphlet on the 
political affairs of Germany — His journey to Strasburg — He pro- 
poses to Louis XIV the conquest of Egypt — Goes to Paris — 
Enlists the Elector of Mentz in favor of his project for the 
conquest of Egypt — Writes to the Duke of Hanover respecting 
it — Its fate — Its relation to the expedition of Bonaparte — His 
occupations in Paris — He invents an improvement on the reck- 
oning machine of Pascal — His projected inventions — His ac- 
quaintances in Paris — Anthony Arnaud — Leibnitz superintends 
the education of the son of Boineburg — Death of Boineburg — 
Leibnitz visits London — Robert Boyle — John Pell — Leibnitz's 
rivals in discovery — His mathematical attainments at this period 
— Death of the Elector of Mentz — His character. 

We have now arrived at that period of the life of 
Leibnitz, when he began to take a more prominent 
part in politics. The subject which now chiefly 
occupied his attention, was the danger to which the 
German empire was exposed from the aggressive 
policy of Louis XIV. This great and ambitious 
monarch, after having invaded Holland, was threat- 
ening to turn his victorious arms against the domin- 
ions of his neighboring rival, the emperor. To avert 
so great a calamity, Leibnitz, in connection with 



56 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

Boineburg, engaged actively in the patriotic endeav- 
or to effect an union of the German princes in the 
neighborhood of the Ehine. In the month of July, 
1670, the Electors of Mentz and Triers, together 
with the Duke of Lorrain, met in Schwalbach, to 
consult together respecting the defensive measures 
that should be taken by them, in view of the critical 
condition of political affairs in western Germany. 
The Duke deemed it highly important, for the secur- 
ity of his dominions against the encroachments of 
Louis XIV, that they should all join the triple alli- 
ance formed against France by England, Holland 
and Sweden. Boineburg, who, together with Leib- 
nitz, was present at the meeting, opposed this policy ; 
and the latter, under the advice and direction of his 
friend, drew up, within the short space of three 
days, a pamphlet, entitled, " Reflections upon the 
manner in which, under existing circumstances, the 
public safety, both internal and external, may be 
preserved, and the present state of the empire be 
firmly maintained." (Bedenken, welchergestalt se- 
curitas publico, interna et externa und status prcesens 
im Beich jetzigen Umstanden nach auf festen Fuss 
zu stellen.) The object of this pamphlet was to 
oppose the proposed union of the Germanic princes 
with the triple alliance, — a measure, it was alleged, 
that would be sure to call down on them the indig- 
nation of Louis ; and instead thereof, to recommend 
the formation of a league among these princes them- 
selves. This German league, it was designed, 
should maintain a standing army of 20,000 men, 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 57 

intended in reality, though not ostensibly, to prevent 
the invasion threatened by France ; and should also 
act in concert, in effecting various improvements in 
the internal affairs and relations of their several 
dominions. The views of the writer of the pamphlet 
were eloquently and patriotically enforced by a 
reference to the internal wants of the empire, as well 
as to the fearful storm then already lowering on the 
western horizon. 

The fears entertained by Leibnitz, of an attack on 
the part of France, were soon realized. Irritated by 
the strenuous attempts of the Duke of Lorrain to 
unite the German princes in opposing the encroach- 
ments of their ambitious neighbor, Louis, before the 
expiration of the summer of 1670, overran the duchy 
of Lorrain, and filled it, together with the adjacent 
bishoprics, with an army of 20,000 men. In this 
posture of affairs, Leibnitz composed, in the following 
November, a continuation of the above-mentioned 
pamphlet, still urging the formation of the league 
before recommended. At the same time, however, 
he predicted, with no little sagacity, as the event 
proved, that the arms of the common enemy would 
be directed, in the ensuing season, not against Ger- 
many, but Holland. The particular measure advo- 
cated by Leibnitz, in these pamphlets, was never 
carried into execution ; but a similar alliance w r as 
formed, the year following, between the emperor and 
several of the German potentates, for their mutual 
protection, though ostensibly for the maintenance of 
the peace of Westphalia. 



58 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

The political and judicial occupations of Leibnitz 
were interrupted for a time, in the summer of 1671, 
by a visit to Strasburg, — apparently in the service of 
his patron, whose son was then attending, in that 
city, upon the instructions of the eminent statesman 
and scholar, Bocler. With this gentleman, Leibnitz 
had the opportunity of holding several conversations, 
which, later in life, he often referred to with pleasure. 
On his return, while sailing down the river so dear 
to every patriotic German, his spirit was saddened 
by reflections upon the exposed situation of his coun- 
try; and on meeting again with Boineburg, he dis- 
closed to him a plan he had several months been 
revolving in his mind, for warding off the dangers 
which threatened the peace of the empire. This 
was no less than the famous project of proposing to 
Louis XIV to direct the French arms towards the 
coast of Egypt, with a view of subjugating the infi- 
dels beneath the pyramids of the Ptolemies. The 
thought was, indeed, not altogether original with 
Leibnitz. As long ago as the early part of the four- 
teenth century, the Venetian, Marino Sanuto, made, 
in his Secreta Fidelium Crucis, a similar proposal to 
the Pope of Eome. With this book Leibnitz was 
acquainted. With him, however, originated the 
design of calling the attention of Louis to this sub- 
ject; as his, also, were the labors which grew out of 
its execution. Even in his Schvvalbach pamphlet, 
he had suggested the plan of a general crusade of 
the Christian powers against the barbarians and 
unbelievers. France, he there said, was destined to 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 59 

lead the armies of Christendom to the Levant, — to 
destroy the nests of pirates who infested the Mediter- 
ranean, — to take forcible possession of Egypt, — and 
even send her colonies to the remote regions of the 
Indies. On the occasion, also, of the election of a 
successor to the bishop of Mentz, in 1671, Leibnitz 
composed a congratulatory poem in Latin, in which, 
apostrophizing Louis XIV, he alluded to the expedi- 
tion to Egypt, and embellished his chivalrous pro- 
ject with the graces of verse. It was not until the 
year following, however, that Leibnitz really took a 
serious view of his project, and united with Boine- 
burg in earnest labors to effect its realization. He 
then entered upon the composition of a detailed me- 
morial to the king of France, in which the conquest 
of Egypt and the destruction of the Turkish empire 
were proposed to the ambitious monarch, as a substi- 
tute for the contemplated campaign against Holland. 
The manuscript of this work, mostly in Leibnitz's 
own hand-writing, is still preserved among his 
papers, in the royal library of Hanover. Along with 
this is also a smaller manuscript, likewise in Leib- 
nitz's hand-writing, to which some one has given the 
title of Be Expeditione JEgyptica, Epistola ad Begem 
FrancicE Scripta. In both of these memorials, the 
last of which only has been published, the greater 
advantages to be gained from the expedition to 
Egypt, compared with those to be anticipated from 
the war against Holland, are set forth with all the 
eloquence, learning and acuteness of which the 
writer was master. Owing, however, to important 



60 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

changes in the posture of European affairs, these 
papers, prepared with no little study of politics, 
geography, and military tactics, were not presented 
to the illustrious personage for whom they were 
intended. 

The project, however, was not given up. Boine- 
burg, having some private business to be transacted 
in Paris, proposed that Leibnitz, instead of sending 
his memorials to the French monarch, should carry 
them in person. To this plan, the latter, who from 
youth had cast a wistful eye towards this chief seat 
of whatever, at that period of history, exalted and 
embellished life, listened with no slight satisfaction. 
Accordingly, he drew up a very brief statement of 
the advantages which the king of France might 
derive from a "certain expedition," the details of 
which the writer was ready to explain to any person 
his Majesty might graciously appoint, to receive 
them. The general tendency of this note was, to 
dissuade Louis from the war against Holland, while, 
at the same time, it was intimated that the proposed 
expedition, by breaking up an important branch of 
the trade of the Dutch, would, in fact, be more 
detrimental to their interests than would be a direct 
invasion of their territory. 

But the formation of a league by France and 
England against Holland, rendered an attack by the 
French monarch upon the latter country inevitable. 
Boineburg and Leibnitz, therefore, were compelled 
so far to change their plans, as to propose the expe- 
dition to Egypt as an advantageous undertaking, to 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 61 

be attempted after the conclusion of the war, which, 
it was foreseen, would be a short one. To the first 
note, accordingly, Leibnitz added a second, written 
in Latin, urging the most Christian king to under- 
take the proposed expedition, upon the re-establish- 
ment of peace. Both of these notes, in the hand- 
writing of Leibnitz, are preserved in the archives of 
the embassy of foreign affairs in Paris. 

A few weeks after the notes had been dispatched 
to the king of France, an answer was received, 
through the minister of foreign affairs, saying that 
his Majesty would be happy to listen to any commu- 
nications respecting the subject suggested. Accord- 
ingly, in March, 1672, Leibnitz, accompanied by a 
servant, set off on his singular mission to the court 
of Louis XIV. Besides being supplied by his patron 
with the means for defraying his travelling expenses, 
Leibnitz was also furnished with a letter of introduc- 
tion to the minister de Pomponne, wherein the bearer 
was described as "un homme qui, quoique Vapparence 
n'y soit pas, pourra fort Men effect uer ce qu'il pro- 
met" Arrived in Paris, Leibnitz proceeded to re- 
quest the favor of the promised audience. For the 
rest, all that is known is, that his propositions were 
heard, considered, and rejected. He remained in 
Paris, however, partly to attend to the private con- 
cerns of his patron, and partly to await the arrival of 
Boineburg himself, who, together with his son, was 
soon expected in the French metropolis. 

But notwithstanding the coolness with which their 
project had been received by the king of France, the 



62 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

hope of preventing the ascendency of French influ- 
ence in the German empire, by directing the ambi- 
tion of Louis to the plains of the East, was by no 
means relinquished, either by Leibnitz or Boineburg. 
They now resorted to the expedient of endeavoring 
to procure the co-operation of the Elector of Mentz 
in the accomplishment of their purpose. Leibnitz 
accordingly drew up a paper, to which the title has 
been given of Consilium Mgyptiacum, wherein he 
gave an exposition of a plan for engaging the king 
of France, on the conclusion of the war with Hol- 
land, in a crusade against the infidels of Egypt; 
while, at the same time, the emperor and the Poles 
should make an attack upon the Turks by land. 
The Elector caught eagerly at the patriotic proposal; 
and straightway sent a detailed communication on 
the subject to the French monarch, then encamped 
at Doesfeld. He even went so far as to offer to 
mediate with the other European powers, that they 
should not interfere to prevent the speedy adjustment 
of the terms of a peace with Holland, in order that 
Louis might be able to set off at an early day, for 
the banks of the Nile. It so happened, however, 
that at the very time these propositions were ad- 
dressed to the pious and heroic feelings of the royal 
breast, his most Christian Majesty was secretly 
negotiating with the Sublime Porte for the renewal 
of the friendly and commercial relations that had 
formerly subsisted between their respective courts 
and countries. The answer, therefore, sent by Louis 
to the French ambassador at the Electoral court, was 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 63 

as follows : "As to the project of a holy war, I have 
nothing to say. You know that since the days of 
Louis the Pious, such expeditions have gone out of 
fashion." 

Still Leibnitz was not disheartened. Having for 
some time carried on a literary correspondence with 
the Duke of Hanover, John Frederic, he resolved to 
make use of the acquaintance he enjoyed with this 
enlightened prince, to enlist his influence, if possible, 
in favor of the Egyptian expedition. He accordingly 
sent to Hanover a lengthy and very able communi- 
cation on the subject. In this paper, the writer so 
far resorted to the diplomatic finesse that was usually 
practised in the European courts at that period, as to 
conceal from the Duke the fact that his scheme had 
already been rejected by the royal personage whose 
assistance was represented as absolutely indispensa- 
ble to its execution. But both the arts and the 
arguments of Leibnitz proved to be of no avail. 
The letter, on the whole, however, so much interest- 
ed John Frederic, that he immediately sent to the 
writer a nattering invitation to enter into his service. 

All these negotiations, growing out of the project 
of the Egyptian expedition, remained, even until the 
commencement of the French revolution, a profound 
secret. The reason why Leibnitz so suddenly left 
Mentz for Paris, was never known, even to his most 
intimate friends and relatives. The general impres- 
sion was, that he was to superintend the education 
of the son of Boineburg, in the French metropolis. 
The report, moreover, so widely circulated and cred- 



64 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

ited in the beginning of the present century, that 
Napoleon obtained the hint of his Egyptian cam- 
paign from the memorials of Leibnitz to Louis XIV, 
was entirely without foundation. It was not until 
after the conquest of Hanover, in 1803, that Napo- 
leon heard of the existence of these manuscripts 
among the papers of Leibnitz, and received, through 
General Mortier, a copy of the Consilium Mgyptia- 
cum. 

While awaiting the arrival of Boineburg in Paris, 
Leibnitz, being prevented by the absence of the court 
from attending to the private business of his patron, 
devoted his time exclusively to the cultivation of his 
mind, and the collection of useful information which 
the French capital on all sides presented. At times 
he buried himself, as he says, in the libraries, where 
he discovered several rare and valuable documents, 
particularly in history. Though not then initiated 
in the higher branches of mathematical analysis, he 
nevertheless amused himself with some attempts at 
making discoveries in this department of science. 
Having heard of Pascal's curious reckoning machine, 
he at once invented an improvement on it, and 
thereby attracted the attention of the minister, Col- 
bert, who encouraged him to construct a model, with 
his improvements, and sent him suitable artificers, to 
render the necessary assistance. Pascal's machine 
went through the processes of addition and subtrac- 
tion only; but that of Leibnitz was constructed to 
execute those, also, of multiplication and division, as 
well as of the extraction of the square and cube 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 65 

roots ; and was designed to be used in topographical, 
astronomical, trigonometrical, and various other com- 
plicated calculations. Such eminent persons as 
Arnaud, Huygens, Thevenot, and even the friends 
of Pascal, examined the model with admiration, and 
confessed that the French invention was not to be 
compared with it. In the year following, it was 
exhibited before the Eoyal Academy of Sciences, 

The mind of Leibnitz, at this period, was occupied, 
also, with manifold and somewhat fantastic projects 
in mechanics. He thought of inventing an instru- 
ment for the perfection of geometrical calculations, 
whereby the nature and contents of all conceivable 
lines and figures could be determined without any 
difficulty. In navigation, as he wrote to the Duke 
of Hanover, he only wanted to verify a certain 
experiment, which had been given out as true, in 
order to devise a new method of finding the longitude 
of any given place, so that the mariner might ascer- 
tain his position without help of sun, moon or stars. 
In hydrostatics, he had restored the lost invention of 
Drebbel, by means of which a ship could dive under 
water, on the occasion of a storm, or for the purpose 
of escaping from pirates, and reappear on the surface 
at pleasure. In pneumatics, he had discovered a 
method, whereby, with the application of compara- 
tively little power, the atmosphere could be so com- 
pressed in the barrel of a gun, or other receptacle, as 
to generate a force greater than that resulting from 
the explosion of gunpowder. This pressure was to 
be obtained by water ; and by means of it, engines 



66 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

could be constructed of such power, that a vessel 
propelled by them would be able to sail directly 
against the wind, and could, no more than a cannon 
ball, be detained in its course by storms. In optics, 
he had invented catadioptrical tubes, in which, by 
means of mirrors, many rays of light, that were lost 
in the ordinary instruments, would be preserved; 
and to this invention was to be added, finally, that of 
a method, previously sought in vain, for measuring 
from the same point of view different perspective 
distances. Of these curious projects, none, except 
the reckoning machine, was ever made public, much 
less carried into execution. In the year 1675, how- 
ever, Leibnitz, being still a resident in Paris, pub- 
lished a letter in the Journal des Savans, respecting 
a plan of his for the improvement of watches. In 
this communication, the writer attempted to show r 
that watches might be constructed on purely abstract, 
mechanical principles, without a reference to the 
oscillations of the pendulum. 

In the reign of Louis XIV, the French were far 
in advance of their neighbors beyond the Ehine, in 
the various mechanical arts; and Leibnitz, who 
suffered no improvements, either in art or science, to 
escape his attention, did not fail to make use of the 
opportunities, presented to him during his residence 
in Paris, to gain such information on these subjects 
as might be of service to his countrymen. He con- 
versed frequently with the most skilful mechanics ; 
and was only hindered by want of pecuniary means 
from extracting from them the most important secrets. 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 67 

But it was not only with' artizans that Leibnitz 
held intercourse. He mingled gladly, likewise, in 
the society of the distinguished men of genius, both 
natives and foreigners, whom the munificent patron- 
age of Louis had assembled in his capital. Of many 
of these persons, we shall have occasion to speak in 
a subsequent part of our narrative. During the 
earlier part of his residence in Paris, he was often 
in the society of Anthony Arnaud, uncle of the 
minister, Arnaud de Pomponne, with the former of 
whom he had corresponded on the subject of church 
union. Arnaud, besides being one of the most 
eminent theologians of the age, was also well versed 
in some branches of the mathematics : and could 
therefore appreciate the mathematical talents of the 
young universal genius. He was, however, of an 
excitable temperament ; and did not always preserve 
his equanimity of mind in his discussions with Leib- 
nitz. Of the truth of this assertion, a rather curious 
illustration may be seen in the following extract 
from a letter of Leibnitz to the Landgrave of Hesse- 
Eheinfels. 

" It is about fifteen years," wrote Leibnitz, in 1686, 
" since I one day went to visit Arnaud, in his house 
in the Faubourg St. Marceau. He had collected 
together four or six of the chiefs of his party, among 
them Messieurs Nicole and St. Amand, for the 
purpose, as I suppose, of introducing me to their 
acquaintance. In the course of the interview, I was 
led to speak of a short prayer, about the length of 
that by our Lord, which comprehended, in excellent 



68 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

order, every thing that could be desired. It was as 
follows. ' O, only living, eternal, almighty, omnis- 
cient and omnipresent God; the only living, true 
and supreme God ; I, thy poor creature, — I believe 
and I hope in thee, I love thee above all, I adore 
thee, I praise thee, I thank thee, and I give myself 
up to thee. Forgive me my sins, and grant unto 
me this day, as to all men, whatever according to 
thy will is conducive both to our temporal and our 
eternal welfare; and preserve us from all evil. 
Amen.' As soon as Arnaud heard this, he cried 
out, as we were all sitting together in a circle, * That 
is good for nothing, — there is no mention of our 
Lord Jesus Christ in it.' For the moment, I was a 
little startled by so severe and unexpected a criticism. 
Nevertheless, preserving my presence of mind, I 
immediately replied, * For this reason must also our 
Lord's prayer, and all the petitions which occur in 
the Acts and Epistles of the apostles, and especially 
that of St. Peter, offered on the occasion of the elec- 
tion of a successor to the apostle Judas, be good for 
nothing ; for in these prayers no mention is made of 
Christ, or of the Trinity.' Thereupon my good 
fellow was thrown into confusion, and we went out 
for a moment to take breath." Arnaud nevertheless 
remained strongly attached to his young friend, who 
still continued to frequent his house. 

Shortly after the occurrence of this incident, the 
Baron von Schonborn, son-in-law of Boineburg, 
arrived at the French court, on a special mission 
from the Elector of Mentz ; and with him came 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 69 

the son of von Boineburg, Philip William. The 
ambassador was directed, by his government, to 
endeavor to persuade the French monarch to consent 
that the interests of the German empire, so far as 
they had been involved in the war against Holland, 
should be taken into consideration by the congress 
which was soon to convene for the purpose of 
framing a treaty of peace ; and also that Cologne 
should be selected as the place for the meeting of 
this congress. In case the king of France should 
not give his consent to these propositions, von 
Schonborn was farther instructed to proceed to Lon- 
don, to endeavor to accomplish the same object 
through the intervention of Charles II ; and in this 
event, Leibnitz was ordered to accompany him. 

Boineburg entrusted his son particularly to the 
care of Leibnitz ; and the latter, accordingly, assisted 
by von Schonborn, took charge of the education of 
the promising youth of sixteen, who afterwards dis- 
tinguished himself as governor of Erfurt, was elevated 
to the rank of count, and became known by the name 
of the great Boineburg. The elder Boineburg died 
suddenly, but a few days after having committed his 
son to the supervision of the friend in whom, to the 
last, he most fully confided. As his first duty, 
Leibnitz did every thing in his power to console the 
deeply afflicted young man ; and also wrote a very 
kind letter of condolence to his bereaved mother. 

Having failed of accomplishing his object at the 
court of Louis XIV, the electoral ambassador, to- 
gether with Leibnitz, left Paris in January, 1673, for 



70 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

London. Being both ignorant of the English lan- 
guage, they were obliged to have recourse to an 
interpreter. Arrived at St. James's, they found 
Charles II no less disinclined than had been Louis 
XIV to comply with the wishes of the Elector. The 
visit to London, however, was by no means without 
its advantages to Leibnitz. He spent his time, most- 
ly, in making the acquaintance of those great men 
whose names belong to this golden age of English 
science. The city of London at that period could 
boast of a Prince Robert in mechanics, a Boyle in 
chemistry, a Hook in microscopical observations, a 
Ray in botany, a Sydenham in medicine, and a 
Wren in architecture. 

It happened to Leibnitz, as it does not unfrequent- 
ly to self-taught men, that many of his discoveries 
were made so late as to expose him to the charge of 
plagiarism. Thus when at London, he learned that 
a discovery, made by him in that department of pure 
mathematics with which he was most familiar, — in 
the doctrine of the finite series and combinations of 
numbers, — had been anticipated by another person. 
Visiting Boyle one day, he happened to fall in with 
the eminent mathematician, John Pell. The con- 
versation turned upon the subject of numbers ; and 
in the course of it, Leibnitz mentioned that he was 
in possession of a method whereby, with the help of 
a certain kind of differences, called by him differen- 
tia generatrices ', he could sum up the terms of any 
constantly increasing or decreasing series. After 
Leibnitz had explained his theory, Pell remarked 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 71 

that a formula of that kind had been discovered long 
before by the able French mathematician, Eegnaud, 
and been fully explained in a work by Gabriel Mou- 
ton, entitled, Observationes diametrorum solis et 
lunce apparentium. This book Leibnitz had never 
before heard of. Anxious to learn how far his dis- 
covery had been anticipated, he hastened to his 
friend Oldenburg, and procuring the work of Mouton, 
found that Pell had indeed told him the truth ; but 
that still there was enough in his discovery which 
was peculiar to it, to prove not only its originality, 
but also its superior value, in comparison with that 
of Eegnaud. Its superiority consisted in this, that 
Leibnitz was able, by means of the same principles, 
to calculate any progression, consisting of terms 
whose numerators were unity, and whose denomina- 
tors were any order of figurate numbers. The next 
day, Leibnitz wrote an account of the circumstances 
under which he first heard of the discovery of Eeg- 
naud ; and deposited it, as a historical document, in 
the hands of Oldenburg. It afterwards became an 
important item of evidence in the famous dispute 
between the author and Sir Isaac Newton, respecting 
the discovery of the differential calculus. In this 
same paper, Leibnitz observed that he had early 
discovered a beautiful law in numerical series, which 
had escaped the observation of Pascal, in his work 
on that subject; modestly adding, that "accident 
rules in discovery, which does not always disclose 
the most valuable truths to the greatest minds, but 
frequently reveals them to persons of moderate 



72 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

capacity." Pell, it may also here be remarked, 
mentioned Mercator's treatise on the rectification of 
the hyperbola to Leibnitz, who took a copy of it with 
him to Paris. 

Leibnitz, moreover, met in London with a rival, 
by the name of Moreland, who claimed the honor of 
having invented a reckoning machine similar to that 
of the German philosopher. This, Leibnitz satisfied 
his mind, however, was merely a combination of the 
reckoning staff of Napier with the machine of Pascal. 
A model of his own invention, brought with him to 
London, was favorably received by the Royal So- 
ciety. 

This first visit of Leibnitz to London constituted, 
as he himself also considered it, an important fact in 
his unfortunate controversy with Newton ; and he 
afterwards, in a letter to the Abbe Conti, who was 
one of the mediators between the controversialists, 
gave the following account of the progress which, at 
that early period, he had made in mathematical 
learning. " It ought to be known," he wrote, in the 
year 1716, " that at the time I first visited England, 
in 1673, 1 had not the least knowledge of the infinite 
series of Mercator ; and as little of the advancement 
then made in the science of geometry, by the adop- 
tion of the new methods of investigation. I was not 
even thoroughly versed in the analysis of Descartes. 
Mathematics were studied by me only incidentally. 
I was acquainted simply with the geometry of indi- 
visibles by Cavallieri ; and a book by father Leotaud, 
containing the quadratures of the phases of the moon 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 73 

and similar figures, — a work which had considerably- 
excited my curiosity. But more pleasure had been 
experienced in the investigation of the qualities of 
numbers, to which study I had been led in writing 
the short tract on the Art of Combination, published 
in 1666, when I was hardly out of my boyhood. 
And as I afterwards observed the use of the differ- 
ences in making calculations, I applied them to the 
series of numbers. It may be seen, from my early 
correspondence with Oldenburg, that this was at that 
time the extent of my progress." 

To Leibnitz's studies and pursuits in London, an 
end was suddenly put, by the unexpected news of 
the decease of the Elector of Mentz. In this prince, 
Leibnitz lost not only a master he was proud to 
serve, but also a patron from whom he had received 
the kindest personal favors. In his eyes, the Elector 
always remained the ideal of a great ruler. In his 
Theodicea, Leibnitz spoke highly of the influence of 
John Philip upon the culture of the German mind ; 
and also in one of his letters, written after the estab- 
lishment of the peace of Nimeguen, defending his 
late master from the charge of having entertained 
the design of betraying his country to France, he 
pronounced him to be " a sublime genius, who la- 
bored for nothing less than the universal welfare of 
Christendom." 



i 



I 



CHAPTER VI. 

Leibnitz returns to Paris — Declines entering the service of the 
Duke of Hanover, and also that of a minister of the king of 
Denmark — His neglect of professional studies — Society in Paris 
—Letter to John Bernouilli — Leibnitz's occupations in Paris — 
Baron von Schonborn — Leibnitz undertakes to edit the works of 
Martianus Capella — His intercourse with Huygens — His design 
of establishing himself permanently in Paris — Correspondence 
with his relatives respecting it — This design relinquished — Von 
Tschirnhausen. 

In consequence of the death of the Elector of 
Mentz, von Schonborn returned, early in March, to 
Paris. Leibnitz accompanied him, bearing away, as 
he expressed it, " the bloom and fragrance of English 
literature, — all for forty thalers." Meanwhile, Louis 
XIV had given his assent to the before-mentioned 
propositions of the electoral court ; and Charles II 
did not long persist in his opposition to them. Von 
Schonborn, therefore, immediately returned to Mentz; 
but Leibnitz, fettered to Paris by his scientific inter- 
ests, and not wishing to go back to Germany in the 
then threatening state of political affairs, remained 
behind. The latter, however, had already favorably 
recommended himself to the new^ Elector, Charles 






LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 75 

Henry, of Beilstein-Metternich, formerly Bishop of 
Speier, by his verses written on the occasion of the 
election of the bishop as the future successor of John 
Philip; and he accordingly readily obtained permis- 
sion to prolong still further his sojourn in Paris. 

It was soon after his return from London, that 
Leibnitz, as we have before narrated, wrote to the 
Duke of Hanover respecting the Egyptian expedi- 
tion, and received in reply an invitation to enter into 
the ducal service. The offer, however, of the title 
of counsellor at the court of Hanover, together with 
a salary of six hundred rix dollars a year, did not 
present a very strong inducement for Leibnitz to 
exchange his connection with the court of the Elec- 
tor, and his situation in the great capital of the arts 
and sciences, for a provincial residence in the then 
unattractive north of Germany. 

Not much more inviting was a proposal made at 
this time to Leibnitz, to enter into the service of one 
of the ministers of the king of Denmark. Already, 
in 1672, a devoted friend of his, Habbeus von Lich- 
tenstern, then residing at Hamburg, in the employ- 
ment of the Danish monarch, had solicited Leibnitz 
to accept an office, which he was ready to procure 
for him at the court of Copenhagen. But this pro- 
posal, made at the time Leibnitz was busily occupied 
in negotiations for enlisting Louis XIV in a crusade 
to the East, had not been accepted. After the inter- 
val of a year, however, Lichtenstern renewed his 
solicitations. He had recommended his friend to 
the first minister of the king of Denmark, who, in 



76 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

consequence, wished to obtain the services of Leib- 
nitz, as his secretary, and offered him a home in his 
house, an appropriate salary, and the prospect of 
future promotion. Although the reply of Leibnitz 
to his friend did not contain an absolute refusal, yet 
he gave him to understand that he could not at that 
time comply with the wishes of the Danish minister. 
" You know my disposition," he wrote, confidentially, 
to Lichtenstern, "which does not incline me to heap 
up gold, nor to surrender myself up to the ordinary 
pleasures of men ; but I find my happiness in making 
some solid contributions to the general welfare. If, 
therefore, you think the Danish minister to be of a 
serious turn of mind, inclined to favor by his influ- 
ence obviously useful and practical projects, — of 
which I cannot doubt, when I consider his high rank 
and extensive reputation ; and if you also think that 
I might expect to win his confidence, in a measure, 
— for I am not accustomed to subject myself to the 
political caprices of the great lords, and would much 
rather hold myself aloof from these occupations, than 
live in continual restlessness, — this presupposed, I 
am ready, sir, to receive your commands; and I 
hope that my zeal will not altogether fail of doing 
useful service. But I must confess to you a failing 
I am subject to, and which passes in the world for a 
very serious one. I mean that I am often forgetful 
of ceremonies, and do not always, at first sight, make 
a favorable impression. In case much stress is laid 
upon these matters, — as I do not believe there is, — 
and if one must indulge in deep potations, in order 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 77 

to be of consequence, you will at once understand 
that I should not be in my element." Instead, how- 
ever, of accepting the offer of the minister, Count 
Giildenlow, Leibnitz, on his part, made a proposition 
to enter into the service of the king of Denmark. 
He proposed to reside in Paris, for the purpose of 
collecting and transmitting to the court of Copenha- 
gen information respecting the various industrial 
arts of France, and also respecting any improvements 
that might be made, from time to time, in science 
and literature. The stipulation was also made, that 
he should receive the title of counsellor to the 
Danish king. But it appears from the result, that 
the Danish minister could not comply with the re- 
quirements of Leibnitz ; as well, also, from the tone 
of the letters and propositions of the latter, that he 
did not seriously wish to form the proposed connec- 
tion with Denmark. 

Having declined these invitations from the north, 
Leibnitz remained at Paris, in the capacity of coun- 
sellor to the Elector. The ties, however, which 
bound him to the electoral court, were fast growing 
weaker. The possibility of not returning to Mentz 
had occurred to him, even before leaving that place ; 
and he had accordingly committed all his books and 
valuable papers to the care of his fellow-laborer 
Lasser. The smallness, also, of the remuneration 
received from the Elector, compelling him to depend 
partly on his private means for support, forced him 
to entertain the thought of seeking elsewhere for a 
permanent settlement. But he still continued to 



7S LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

retain a deep interest in the great enterprise of re- 
vising the German system of laws, though no con- 
venient opportunity for continuing the work present- 
ed itself during his residence in Paris ; and even on 
his removal to Hanover, and after the death of Las- 
ser, he sent to Mentz for all the documents pertaining 
to this matter left by his associate, with the design 
of completing their mutual labors. This design, 
however, as we have before stated, was never more 
than partially fulfilled. But Leibnitz excused his 
neglect of jurisprudence during the four years of his 
residence in Paris, by the consideration that the 
studies in which he was then engaged were inti- 
mately connected with that science. In fact the 
fruits of these pursuits were plainly visible in his 
writings, on the principles of natural law ; and even 
in his simplification of the method of reckoning 
interest, as explained in his Meditatio juridico-math- 
ematica de interusurio simplice, which was published 
in the year 1683. 

Whether Leibnitz, though known to have been 
acquainted with many personages high in rank and 
royal favor, mingled much in the gayeties of Parisian 
society, we are not informed; nor are there any 
beyond the most meagre records of the influence 
exerted upon his mind by the fine arts which at that 
period decorated the most splendid capital of Europe. 
The creative powers of Racine were then just reach- 
ing their point of culmination ; and Moliere died a 
year after the arrival of Leibnitz. The latter once 
saw the great comedian on the stage in one of his 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 79 

own plays ; and also witnessed, with a satisfaction 
not soon forgotten, the performance of the Ombre de 
Moliere, composed in honor of the departed poet. 
The connection of Leibnitz with the houses of Boine- 
burg and Schonborn must indeed have given him an 
introduction to the society of the most cultivated 
Parisian circles ; and thereby have enabled him, by 
associating with the elegance and fashion which 
surrounded the throne of Louis XIV, to perfect 
himself in the social arts and accomplishments then 
deemed indispensable to a courtier. But we possess 
no information on this point beyond mere hints, such 
as may be derived from the following letter of Leib- 
nitz to John Bernouilli, under date of June 24, 1707. 
The writer, after having spoken of the great self- 
love and stubbornness of the learned Abbe Gallois, 
thus proceeded : " I was formerly intimately ac- 
quainted with him, when he possessed the favor of 
the minister, Colbert. One day I called upon Col- 
bert, in company with the noble Duke of Chevreuse, 
son-in-law of the minister. There I met Gallois, 
who was engaged in conversation with the younger 
Colbert, also called Croissy, a short time before the 
latter left for Nimuguen, to attend the negotiations 
respecting a treaty of peace. The Abbe seemed 
intent, by means of ludicrous remarks, on moving 
the laughter of his young companion. For myself, 
I could not but be surprised that a man, not without 
distinction, should court the favor of the great by the 
use of wit that lacked not much of being scurrilous. 
But it was said that even the elder Colbert, in mo- 



bU LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

ments of relaxation from the labors of his office, 
allowed himself to be entertained by the loquacity of 
the Abbe.'' 

While living in Paris, Leibnitz was frequently 
engaged, by persons of distinction, to draw up memo- 
rials to the court, or to prepare state papers of impor- 
tance. To this employment he was indebted, in a 
great measure, for the ease and propriety with which 
he wrote the French language ; and for the posses- 
sion, accordingly, of an accomplishment almost indis- 
pensable to an author, who, in the age of Louis XIV 
aspired to the honor of an European reputation. He 
also derived his support, for the time being, mostly 
from this occupation ; while his scientific discoveries 
afforded him merely recreation and mental discipline. 
These did not even give him reputation, he being 
in no haste to make them public. In a letter to 
Oldenburg, July 15, 1674, he wrote respecting his 
occupations in Paris, as follows : "My mind is bur- 
dened by a great variety of labors, in part required 
of me by my friends, and in part by persons of rank. 
Therefore I have much less time than I could wish 
to devote to the study of nature and to mathematical 
investigations. Nevertheless, I steal as much of it 
as I can, and will rather gratify my mind with these 
favorite pursuits, than occupy myself with matters 
more for my pecuniary interest." 

About the time when Leibnitz made this general 
confession to his friend in London, his services were 
engaged in the adjustment of certain private affairs 
of no little importance. The Duke of Meklenburg- 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 81 

Schwerin, hated and persecuted by his subjects at 
home, repaired in 1674 to Paris. This prince had 
separated from his first wife, who was a Protestant ; 
and thereupon, having himself gone over to the 
church of Eome, married a Catholic lady. But 
unhappy at heart, he was anxious to obtain a divorce 
from his second wife, provided such a step would be 
sanctioned by the laws of the land. The question 
was one of very great difficulty. The Duke having 
been recommended to Leibnitz for counsel, the latter 
decided in his favor. And long afterwards, on the 
appearance of the able work of Launoy on the royal 
prerogative in matters of marriage and divorce, 
Leibnitz had the satisfaction of seeing his opinion 
confirmed by that very high authority. 

Some portion of the time of Leibnitz, moreover, 
was occupied in obtaining payment of the claims of 
the late Baron von Boineburg on the French gov- 
ernment ; as well as in superintending the education 
of the son of ihe latter, Philip William. This youth 
had been commended by both his parents to the care 
of Leibnitz, who showed his attachment to the mem- 
ory of his patron, by the fidelity with which he dis- 
charged the duties of a friend, counsellor and 
instructer to the son and heir of the deceased. 
Philip "William proved, however, to be somewhat 
impatient of restraint, and, though endowed with 
remarkable gifts of comprehension and memory, 
manifested at that time a greater fondness for the 
sports which invigorated the body, than for the 
severe studies designed to develop the mind. This 



S2 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

disinclination to apply himself to books, Leibnitz 
zealously struggled against ; and endeavored contin- 
ually to imbue the mind of his young friend with a 
respect for useful learning and moral principle. The 
connection, however, between the pupil and his 
teacher, so important as it was to the former, did not 
continue longer than one year, some misunderstand- 
ing having sprung up between them, through the 
fault of the relatives of Boineburg at Mentz. But 
the most pleasant relations were afterwards main- 
tained, and a protracted correspondence kept up 
between the two friends, when Leibnitz at Hanover 
was reaping the fruits of an European reputation, 
and Boineburg at Frankfort and Erfurt had risen to 
even a higher eminence than his father before him. 
"With the Baron von Schonborn, also, Leibnitz re- 
mained on the most confidential terms, although it ,. 
does not appear that they had much intercourse with 
each other after the latter left Paris. Before that 
event, however, Leibnitz made frequent applications 
to him for the discharge of friendly offices, and 
among other things, solicited through him the pay- 
ment of his stipend from the government at Mentz. 
But von Schonborn advised him to relinquish all 
hopes of remittances from that quarter, on account of 
the unsettled state of the times, and to remain in 
Paris until the political troubles should be entirely 
overpast. 

His mode of life at Paris gave Leibnitz no leisure 
for the projection and execution of any great work 
in science, although there was no lack of occasions 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 83 

for the application of his learning or the exercise of 
his intellect. When he had been about a year in 
the French capital proposals were made to him to 
edit some one of the ancient authors, then in a course 
of publication under the patronage of the Duke of 
Montausier, and the learned superintendence of 
Huet, subsequently bishop of Avranches. Huet 
payed Leibnitz the compliment of inviting him to 
select a work, the editing of which would require 
not only classical learning, but also an extensive 
acquaintance with the arts and sciences of the 
moderns. The author finally fixed upon was Marti- 
anus Capella, the encyclopaedian form of whose 
writings, their critical difficulties, and especially the 
ample opportunities furnished by them for learned 
and scientific comment, rendered the task of editing 
them highly attractive to Leibnitz, as it had likewise 
before appeared to the youthful mind of Hugo Gro- 
tius. Sometime afterwards, having finished a small 
portion of his task, and being doubtful whether the 
remainder would ever be completed, Leibnitz sent 
what he had written to Huet, begging him at the 
same time not to complain of his delay, as his labors 
had been frequently interrupted. Indeed, the multi- 
plicity of his pursuits prevented him from ever finish- 
ing this first and last attempt in philological criticism, 
engaged in out of good-will to the undertaking of 
Huet, but which lay too far aside from the pursuits 
of the philosopher and the mathematician, to become 
the subject of heartfelt interest. 



84 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

Meanwhile, so much attached had Leibnitz become 
to Paris, that, in the year 1675, he seriously formed 
the plan of establishing himself permanently in that 
metropolis. Of the details of this plan, some notion 
may be formed from the following extract from a 
letter of his, under date of Oct. 20, 1675, to iEgidius 
Strauch, one of his relatives in Germany : " Having, 
by my labor, and the blessing of God, amassed some 
little property, I have found an opportunity of making 
such an investment of it, as will yield a certain and 
permanent income. Several distinguished persons 
of rank, from whom I have received many favors, 
have proposed to me to purchase a certain office, or 
charge, the proceeds of which would, in the course 
of time, suffice to discharge the small debt necessary 
to be contracted at the outset. These persons, 
having an important voice in the matter, retain the 
office for me, and prevent others, who are willing to 
give a larger sum for it, from anticipating me. For 
myself, I cannot but think that the circumstances are 
specially ordered by God, who makes all things so 
wonderfully harmonize together ; and that it would 
be both ingratitude and folly in me, declining his 
proffered favor, to prefer uncertain hopes to a certain 
resting-place. I think thus favorably of the office, 
because, 1. It will yield about eight hundred rix 
dollars annually, which is far more than the interest 
of what I shall have to give for it. 2. In time of 
peace I may calculate on its producing an annual 
income of one thousand rix dollars. 3. Even this 
sum may be increased, by the improvement of oppor- 






LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 85 

tunities as they may occur. 4. The situation is an 
honorable one. 5. It will never compel me to act 
against my country. 6. It may be held by Protest- 
ants, as it has been before. 7. It requires but 
moderate labor, and involves but light responsibil- 
ities. 8. It will allow of occasional visits to my 
native country. 9. It will furnish me with opportu- 
nities of serving my relatives and friends. 10. I 
could at any time dispose of the office." 

But in order to carry his design of permanently 
locating himself in Paris into execution, Leibnitz 
was obliged to apply to his relatives in Saxony for 
pecuniary assistance. These, however, were some- 
what estranged from one whom for many years they 
had not seen, nor even so much as heard of. In 
fact, all the letters which Leibnitz had written to his 
relatives, since his arrival in France, had, by some 
unlucky mischance, failed of reaching their destina- 
tion. All, therefore, that his kinsmen knew of him 
was, that he had suddenly left Mentz, for reasons 
known to no one, — that he had gone to Paris, and 
afterwards to London, in the suite of the electoral 
embassy, and that he was soon about to return to 
Germany. His friends in Saxony had looked not 
without distrust, even upon his connection with a 
Catholic prince and prelate in Mentz; but upon 
their learning that he had gone so far from them as 
Paris and London, their suspicions of both his piety 
and his patriotism were so excited as to betray them 
into open complaints. Thus he received from his 
brother, John Frederic, a letter, under date of 



S6 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

Jan. 7, 1674, full of severe reproaches. These were 
read by the accused, however, rather with pity than 
indignation ; and in reply to them, he satisfied him- 
self with merely saying, that as he had written more 
than one letter to his relatives, in the course of the 
year, the charge of neglect was made against him 
without cause. But this reply, also, never came 
into the hands of his anxious brother. John Fred- 
eric therefore forwarded another admonitory epistle 
to Paris, which, upon its reception, called forth a 
reply, wherein Leibnitz warmly defended himself 
against the charges of having lost his interest in 
either his father-land or his faith. The following is 
an extract from it : 

"My maxims are honest and generous. Never 
from motives of self-interest have I done the least 
thing for which my conscience upbraids me. In 
the presence of nobles and princes, many of whom 
have shown me no ordinary favors, I have fearless- 
ly, but also rationally, maintained my freedom of 
religous opinion; and been regarded none the 
less graciously, for they appreciated the sincerity 
of my convictions. I have aimed to do no man 
injury, and have therefore never had an enemy. 
Artifice I have thought it at no time necessary to 
resort to; and straight paths have advanced me 
farther than crooked ones have many others. Hav- 
ing experienced the good fortune, wherever I came, 
that persons of gentility wished to make my ac- 
quaintance and enjoy my society, I have had, as can 
be proved by the letters of several eminent princes 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 87 

and gentlemen, not so much a deficiency as a super- 
abundance of distinguished friends. My circum- 
stances are such as lead me to perceive that God 
never forsakes those who attend to his call and their 
own duty. This I say, not to represent myself as 
perfect, for I freely confess that, from want of expe- 
rience, I have committed faults, both many and 
grievous. But these have been corrected by fortune, 
that is, by Providence ; and my good-will and correct 
intentions, which, by the help of God, I will never 
swerve from, have been favorably regarded. This 
I write, because you may have had doubts respect- 
ing my conduct, — unquestionably from want of 
information merely, as my absence has not allowed 
me, by circumstantial intelligence, to allay any 
suspicions with which your mind may have been 
visited." 

At the same time, Leibnitz wrote to his relative, 
iEgidius Strauch, the letter from which an extract 
has before been given, and wherein he also made a 
direct appeal to the generosity of his friends, stating 
that, as the purchase of the proposed situation would 
involve an expense of several thousand rix dollars, 
he was under the necessity of looking to them for 
the sum of five hundred. This request he felt at 
liberty to make, partly on the strength of a claim, 
which had descended from his parents to their chil- 
dren, on the treasury of Altenburg ; partly because 
for several years he had not applied to his friends 
for any pecuniary assistance whatever ; also for the 
reason that he was not without hope of being able, at 



bfe LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

some future day, to return their favors ; and finally, 
that he might be saved from the shame of having 
his patrons and acquaintances in Paris think him, 
from inability to raise so small a sum, the son of a 
peasant, or a beggar. In this same letter, moreover, 
the writer, referring to the suspicions which had 
arisen in the minds of his relatives respecting his 
conduct, declared that, so far as his country was 
concerned, he was not without abundant proof of his 
zeal in its behalf; and that, with respect to his 
attachment to Protestantism, he had often said, in 
the presence of persons of rank and influence, that, 
were he ever so well convinced of both the correct- 
ness and the safety of the Eomish doctrines, — as in 
fact he was not, — he notwithstanding would never 
adopt them, under circumstances liable to render him 
obnoxious to the suspicion of having acted from 
motives of self-interest. In conclusion, said Leibnitz, 
" I hope, after having fully arranged my affairs, to 
make a visit next spring to Germany, — believing 
that some credit will be reflected as well upon my 
friends as myself, when I shall have at length 
brought my ship into port, and be no longer com- 
pelled to run after other people, even though they 
be princes. For my experience has taught me that 
one will then first be eagerly sought after by the 
world, when he has placed himself in a situation 
where he no longer needs to seek after it. . . . Not 
having seen Italy, it is my intention to return home 
by the way of a portion of France which I have not 
yet visited, of Italy, Austria and 'Prague ; and on 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 89 

my journey back to Paris, to pass through Hamburg, 
Holland and England, — God vouchsafing me life 
and health for this purpose." 

But earnest and affectionate as was the appeal of 
Leibnitz to his relatives, that he might not pass in 
Paris for " the son of a peasant or a beggar," it 
appears to have proved unavailing. At the com- 
mencement of the year 1676, we iind him still in 
doubt about his future career, having entirely given 
up his plan of purchasing a situation and settling 
down for life in Paris. He was completely free, 
however, from all anxiety respecting his situation, — 
partly, no doubt, in consequence of a present of con- 
siderable value from the Duke of Hanover. The 
year 1676, therefore, was devoted by Leibnitz, with 
renewed zeal and success, to the prosecution of his 
literary occupations. He at this time, moreover, 
gained a valuable friend and fellow-student in his 
countryman, afterwards the noted Walter von 
Tschirnhausen, who had fought as a volunteer in 
the campaign of 1672 against the French in Holland, 
and had afterwards traveled extensively on the con- 
tinent. Tschirnhausen, bringing letters from Olden- 
burg, was cordially received by Leibnitz, who, inter- 
changing opinions with him on the subjects of phi- 
losophy and analogy, communicated to him those 
views which were afterwards made the foundation of 
Tschirnhausen's able work, entitled, Medicina Men- 
tis. Leibnitz early foresaw the future eminence of 
his gifted friend, while Tschirnhausen, on his part, 
acknowledged his indebtedness to the intercourse he 



90 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

enjoyed in Paris with his illustrious countryman. 
This harmonious relation between the two continued 
uninterrupted until the death of Tschirnhausen, in 
1708, — an event deplored by the survivor as the loss 
of "an old friend and excellent promoter of their 
mutual studies." 






CHAPTER VII. 

Leibnitz discovers the differential calculus— History of the con- 
troversy between Leibnitz and Newton respecting this discov- 
ery. 

We have now arrived, in our narrative, at the 
period when Leibnitz made his name immortal, by 
the discovery of the differential calculus. His short 
visit to England, in the winter of 1673, had served 
to awaken in his mind a very strong desire to perfect 
himself in geometrical analysis, — a desire still more 
inflamed, no doubt, by his subsequent nomination as 
a member of the Royal Society in London. This 
honor, conferred upon him one year after the admis- 
sion, into the same Society, of Sir Isaac Newton, of 
whose name Leibnitz had then hardly heard, but 
which was destined afterwards to be most intimately 
associated with his own, appears to have been solic- 
ited, according to custom, by the exhibition of a 
model of his reckoning machine. Hitherto, Leibnitz 
had been his own teacher in the mathematics ; but 
the circumstance which took place, as before narrat- 
ed, on the occasion of his meeting with Pell, had 
revealed to him the disadvantages attending such an 
isolated and unassisted course of study. Accordingly, 



92 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

on his return to Paris, he availed himself of the 
instructions of the celebrated Christian Huygens, by 
whose assistance he soon made himself master of 
the higher mechanics and analysis; and to whom, 
next to Galileo and Descartes, he acknowledged 
himself most indebted in his mathematical pursuits. 
He read, at that time, the book of Huygens, De 
horologio oscillatorio, together with the Letters of 
Pascal, and the work of Gregory, of St. Vincent, 
De quadrature?, circuit et sectionihus conicis. 

It was in the course of this year (1673) that 
Leibnitz first entered upon that career of original 
mathematical investigation which he afterwards 
pursued with such brilliant success. The first dis- 
covery made by him was that of the differential 
calculus, the following account of which we extract 
from a letter of his, written to the Countess Kiel- 
mansegge, in the year 1716: 

" Becoming intimately associated, after my return 
from London to Paris, with Mr. Huygens, the 
distinguished geometrician, I began to find great 
pleasure in geometrical investigations. I made 
rapid progress in my inquiries, and discovered a 
series of numbers, which accomplish for the circle, 
what Mercator has done for the hyperbola. This 
discovery created no slight sensation in Paris. 
Huygens gave it currency; and this, among other 
circumstances, was the reason of my being offered a 
place in the Royal Academy of Sciences.^ He 

* This offer was declined by Leibnitz, because coupled with the 
condition that he should unite himself with the Church of Rome. 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 93 

believed that I was the first person who had done 
any thing of the kind respecting the circle; and in 
this opinion I wrote, under date of July 15, 1674, to 
Oldenburg, with whom, though many letters had 
passed between us, I had never before held any 
communication, on topics of this character. Olden- 
burg replied, December 8, 1674, that a Mr. Newton, 
of Cambridge, had already done similar things, 
respecting not only the circle, but all other kinds of 
figures also, and sent me specimens. Meanwhile, 
the specimen sent by me was sufficiently acknowl- 
edged by Mr. Newton. 

"Bat this," continued Leibnitz, "is not the main 
point in the matter. For I went further, and com- 
bining my early observations on the differences of 
numbers, with my recent investigations in geometry, 
I found, in the year 1676, so far as I can recollect, 
a new calculus, called by me, the differential calcu- 
lus, and which, applied to geometry, has done 
wonders. But as I was obliged to return to Germa- 
ny, having been called thither by the Duke of 
Hanover, uncle of our King George I, and had also 
many things to attend to during the brief remainder 
of my residence in Paris, one can easily understand 
that I had but little time for remaining in my 
chamber, and prosecuting my meditations." 

Still more expressly, and in perfect accordance 
with every thing published by him, Leibnitz wrote, 
April 9, 1716, to the Abbe Conti, who then acted as 
a mediator between the two principal parties, in the 
controversy respecting the discovery of the differen- 
tial calculus, as follows : 



94 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

" It was through Oldenburg that I first learned 
something respecting the performances of Mr. New- 
ton ; but I knew nothing about the extraction of the 
roots of equations by means of series, nor of the 
regressions or extractions of an infinite equation. I 
was still something of a novice in these matters. 
Nevertheless, I soon (1675) found an universal 
method, by arbitrary series (series arbitrarii), and 
arrived finally at my differential calculus, — a discov- 
ery to which I was led, in part, by the reflections 
made in my early years, upon the differences of 
numerical series, and published in the tract, De arte 
combinatoria. For I arrived at this result, not like 
Newton, through the fluxions of lines, but by the 
differences of numbers ; inasmuch as I at last 
observed that these differences applied to constantly 
increasing quantities, disappear in comparison with 
the different quantities, while, on the other hand, 
they continue to subsist in the series of numbers. 
And I believe this way to be the most analytical, 
since the geometrical calculus of differences, which 
is identical with the calculus of fluxions, is, in fact, 
nothing more than a special case of the analytical 
calculus of differences in general ; and this special 
case is more convenient from the disappearance of 
the differences." In conclusion, Leibnitz remarks, 
that plain marks of his peculiar discovery were 
contained in a letter which, under date of August 
27, 1676, he wrote to Oldenburg, to be communicated 
to Newton. 

The three decisive points above stated by Leib- 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 95 

nitz, viz., the time of his discovery, its difference 
from the nuxionary calculus of Newton, and the 
documentary confirmation of it in his correspondence 
with Oldenburg, have, in recent times, been strongly 
urged in favor of the German mathematician, by the 
great heroes in modern geometry, the peers of both 
Leibnitz and New-ton. These are Euler, Lagrange, 
Laplace, Poisson ; and to them is to be added an 
eminent mathematician of our own day, M. Biot. 
The latter lays great stress upon the above-mentioned 
letter (August 27, 1676), written to Oldenburg and 
Newton, by Leibnitz, immediately before his leaving 
Paris for Hanover. This was in reply to a previous 
letter of Newton to Oldenburg, bearing date, June 
23, 1676, and containing the results of the writer's 
investigations on the subject of series, together with 
the formula of the binomial theorem. The letter, 
however, was destitute of demonstrations of any 
kind, Newton merely saying, that "he was in pos- 
session of a method whereby, in the case of any 
given series, he could ascertain the quadratures 
of the curves from which they proceed, as w r ell as 
the volume and the centre of gravity of bodies de- 
scribed by these curves." All this, observes Biot, 
Newton could do by means of the fluxions he had 
discovered in 1665 ; but then the same thing could 
also be done by another process, made known by 
Mercator. This, too, is what Leibnitz affirmed in 
his reply of August 27, 1676, adding, that "he 
made use of another method to accomplish these 
objects, which consisted in resolving the given 



96 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

curve into its linear elements, and transforming these 
infinitely small elements into other equivalents; that 
as to the questions respecting the way to ascend 
from the tangents to the curves, he had treated 
many of them by a direct analysis; and that one of 
these (which he also adduced) had, by means of 
such a method of procedure, been mere play for 
him." From this information respecting his new 
method, which, in a general way, he called trans- 
mutations, and by means of which, all possible 
curves might be reduced to simple ones, it may 
clearly be inferred, that Leibnitz then made use of 
infinitesimal quantities. "All this," remarks Biot, 
"was more than sufficient to show Newton that 
Leibnitz was at least on the way to a calculus simi- 
lar to the fluxionary, — that he was close upon it, if 
not then in actual possession of it." 

Therefore Newton, in his reply to the last men- 
tioned letter, made through Oldenburg, October 24, 
1676, took the pains to inform Leibnitz, that he 
himself, likewise, was in possession of certain new 
methods, whose application to tangents and quadra- 
tures he pointed out. But instead of explaining the 
nature of these methods, he concealed them in two 
sentences of transposed characters, in order, it would 
appear, to have a proof of the priority of his discov- 
ery in Leibnitz's own hands. This unwillingness 
to make his discoveries public was, indeed, shared 
by Newton with the greatest geometricians and 
natural philosophers of his century. But still, by 
pursuing this course, he left an opportunity, even 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 97 

though he were, at this period, in possession of his 
method of fluxions, for any other person to come in 
and share the honors of the discovery. For the 
rules of literary justice require the publication of a 
discovery as the only unquestionable proof of its 
existence, and of the period of its origin ; and who- 
soever chooses to retain for himself the sole use and 
benefit of any new method or result in science, runs 
the risk of being obliged to divide his fame with 
another. 

This disposition, so common among mathema- 
ticians, to withhold their discoveries, did not at all 
belong to Leibnitz. To the letter of Newton con- 
taining the transposed characters, Leibnitz replied, 
under date of June 21, 1677, with a plain and full 
exposition of the infinitesimal calculus, with its 
algorithm, its rules, the mode of forming the differ- 
ential equations, and the application of this process 
to problems in analytical geometry. The figures 
amployed in this exposition are marked with the 
same letters, and exhibit the same mode of notation, 
which Leibnitz had used in his letter to Oldenburg, 
written immediately before leaving Paris, wherein 
he explained the method of transmutation, — a cir- 
cumstance going far to convince us of the identity 
of the two methods. Upon this letter (August 27, 
1676), accordingly, too much stress cannot be laid, in 
an examination of the respective merits of the two 
illustrious rivals. And yet this letter, which seemed 
to Newton of sufficient importance to elicit the reply 
containing the transposed characters, — this letter, as 



9S LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

Biot observes, Brewster, the latest biographer of 
Newton, has taken no notice of whatever ! 

In fine, — still to express the views of Biot, — a 
succession of ideas so clear and connected as that 
contained in Leibnitz's exposition of the differential 
calculus, united with a perfectly abstract mode of 
generating magnitudes, and expressed by a particu- 
lar algorithm as remarkable for its simplicity as its 
exactitude in all applications of it to analytical and 
geometrical questions, must, in the eyes of geome- 
tricians, be regarded as furnishing strong evidence 
of the originality of the discovery by Leibnitz ; — of 
his discovery, not of the calculus of fluxions, pos- 
sessed by Newton unquestionably before the year 
1669, though burdened with the idea of motion, and 
destitute of an algorithm, but of the abstract differen- 
tial calculus, wtth its algorithm, its complete meta- 
physics, and its universal methods. And so, in fact, 
have the four greatest authorities which can be quoted 
on this subject decided; although Euler, Lagrange, 
Laplace and Poisson, all agree that the germ of the 
methods of both Leibnitz and Newton existed pre- 
viously in the discoveries of Peter Fermat. Laplace 
has clearly set forth the error of the Royal Society 
in London, which, undertaking to decide between 
the conflicting claims of Leibnitz and Newton, af- 
firmed that " the differential method is one and the 
same with the method of fluxions, excepting in the 
name and the mode of notation." Laplace saw in 
the notation itself the principle of the new calculus ; 
and Poisson decided that " the differential calculus 
did not originate farther back than with Leibnitz, the 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 99 

originator of the algorithm and the notation, which, 
since the origin of this calculus, have every where 
gained the ascendency, and to which the infinitesi- 
mal analysis owes all its advances." 

With this brief statement of the essential differ- 
ence between the differential calculus and the method 
of fluxions, of the time of the origin of the former, 
and of its superiority over the latter, the question 
respecting the originality of Leibnitz's great discov- 
ery may be considered as settled. But after the 
solution of the main historical problem, we have 
still to narrate the progress of a personal controversy, 
which not only enlisted on different sides the most 
distinguished scientific men of Europe, but even 
brought out two great nations in hostile array against 
each other. 

As has been already mentioned, to Newton's letter 
containing the transposed characters, Leibnitz replied 
with a full exposition of the principles of his differen- 
tial calculus. He had, moreover, the frankness to 
make in this reply the following declaration : "I 
suspect that what Newton wished to conceal respect- 
ing the method of drawing tangents, is not very 
different from these discoveries of my own." (Ar- 
bitror, quce celare voluit Newtonus de tangentibus 
ducendis, ab his non abludere.) Newton, however, 
instead of reciprocating this candor, at once broke off 
the correspondence with the German mathematician ; 
and, in consequence, all intercourse between the 
illustrious competitors, who indeed had never seen, 
and but rarely written directly to, each other, was 



100 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

discontinued for the remainder of their lives. This 
singular step on the part of Newton has been attrib- 
uted by his friends to the death, soon afterwards, of 
Oldenburg, who, as secretary of the Royal Society, 
was accustomed to form a medium of communication 
between its distant members, — as if the same friendly 
office could not have been performed by his succes- 
sor, and as if, after having received a letter of such 
importance as that containing the original documen- 
tary evidence of the discovery of the differential 
calculus, Newton needed the intervention of a third 
person, in order to find out Leibnitz. The benefits 
which, in the course of almost half a century, would 
have accrued to science from the harmonious connec- 
tion, thus unceremoniously dissolved, of these two 
great philosophers, can hardly be too highly esti- 
mated, when we consider the valuable fruits of even 
their isolated labors, — not to mention the influence 
which would have been exerted by their mutual 
friendship upon the cause of virtue, not merely in a 
single nation, or during the course of one or more 
generations, but upon the civilized portion of the 
human race, throughout all time. Leibnitz, be it 
observed, had simply expressed the conjecture that 
what was concealed in Newton's transposed charac- 
ters, did not differ very widely from the principles of 
his own differential calculus ; and must undoubtedly 
have awaited the confirmation of this so freely vol- 
unteered acknowledgment with no little interest. 
But Newton chose to make no reply ; and the Ger- 
man mathematician had the dissatisfaction of seeing 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 101 

his secret, at that time communicated to no other 
person, in the possession of a rival, whose frankness, 
at least, he was tempted to look upon with suspicion. 
During several successive years, Leibnitz occupied 
his leisure in developing and perfecting the analysis 
of infinitesimal quantities, until, in 16S4, he proceed- 
ed to publish the results of his labors in the Acta 
Eruditorum; and thereby called forth the admiration 
of the whole scientific world at the richness and 
brilliancy of his discovery. Even the brothers Ber- 
noulli, and the Marquis de l'Hopital, who might 
well pass for masters in mathematical science, con- 
fessed themselves the pupils of the author of the new 
methods; and Huygens, also, notwithstanding some 
reluctance at first, finally thought it not beneath his 
own reputation to offer the most cordial and grateful 
acknowledgments to the fortunate discoverer of the 
differential calculus. The generous sentiments of 
Leibnitz himself respecting the publication of his 
discovery may be learned from the following remarks 
made ten years afterwards : " I gave the elements 
of the new analysis several years since to the public, 
having a greater regard for the general good than 
for my own reputation, which I might perhaps have 
more promoted by keeping the methods longer in 
my possession. But it gives me pleasure to see the 
fruits of seeds scattered by my own hand growing in 
the gardens of others. For it lay neither in my 
power to carry out this discovery sufficiently, nor 
were there wanting objects to invite me into new 
paths of investigation. This, indeed, I always con- 



102 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

sidered the main thing ; and ever prized the methods 
far higher than the particular illustrations of them, 
notwithstanding these last are generally received 
with the greatest applause." 

In the year 1684, Leibnitz published the essay, 
Nova methodus pro maximis et minimis; but made 
in it no allusion whatever to the correspondence 
carried on between Newton and himself, respecting 
the differential calculus. This circumstance, of 
itself, shows the sensitiveness of his mind on account 
of the neglect of Newton to answer his last letter, 
containing the exposition of his great discovery ; and 
certain it is, as may be learned from the correspond- 
ence between Huygens and Fatio de Duillier, that 
the omission in this essay of any reference to New- 
ton was not a little displeasing to the latter. In this 
essay, moreover, as indeed in every thing written by 
Leibnitz after the publication of the differential cal- 
culus, one will look in vain for a recognition of the 
claims of any person besides himself to the honor of 
that discovery. He claimed this honor himself, as 
he was confessedly the first person who published 
it to the world, both in its principles and their 
applications. 

When, then, Newton, two years after the last 
mentioned essay of Leibnitz, published his Principia, 
containing a general explanation of the fluxionary 
method, together with the great discoveries made by 
means of it, he took no notice of the differential 
calculus before given to the public by Leibnitz. To 
the second lemma of the second book, however, he 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 103 

added his famous scholium respecting his corre- 
spondence with the German mathematician. It was 
as follows : " In a correspondence which took place 
about ten years ago between that very skilful 
geometrician, G. W. Leibnitz, and myself, I an- 
nounced to him that I possessed a method of deter- 
mining maxima and minima, of drawing tangents, 
and of performing similar operations, which was 
equally applicable to rational and irrational quanti- 
ties, and concealed the same in transposed letters, 
involving this sentence, {data equatione quotcunque 
Jiuentes quantitates involvente, fluxiones invenire et 
vice versa.) This illustrious man replied that he 
also had fallen on a method of the same kind, and 
he communicated to me his method, which scarcely 
differed from mine, except in the notation [and in 
the idea of the generation of quantities."]^ 

The object of this scholium, as its author after- 
wards declared, was to establish the priority of his 
discovery of the method of fluxions, which he con- 
sidered identical with the differential calculus, pub- 
lished two years before by Leibnitz. But it was 
construed by Leibnitz and his friends as an acknow- 
ledgment, on the part of Newton, of the rights of 
the former; and was, in consequence, entirely left 
out in the third edition of the Principia. Biot, 
though he put the same interpretation on the scholi- 
um as Leibnitz and his friends did, observed that 
there was an ambiguity in the words, "this illustri- 

* These words in brackets are in the second edition, and not in 
the first. 



104 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

ous man replied that he had fallen on a method of 
the same kind." For to a person who was unac- 
quainted with the correspondence between the two 
mathematicians (which had in fact not then been 
made public), these words, in the connection in which 
they stood, might have conveyed the idea that Leib- 
nitz had found out the key to the transposed charac- 
ters; while Leibnitz, on the contrary, had given no 
such intimation, but merely thrown out a conjecture 
altogether characteristic of the frankness and gener- 
osity of his character. It is a circumstance, we may 
add, not easily reconcilable with the sincerity of 
Newton, that he omitted in the scholium all reference 
to the important letter of Leibnitz, of August 24, 
1676. 

The Principia, one of the greatest monuments of 
human genius the world has ever witnessed, instead 
of reconciling Leibnitz to his illustrious rival, had, 
unfortunately, the effect to widen still farther the 
separation. No one, in fact, was so reluctant as 
Leibnitz to acknowledge the great merits of this 
work; no one did so much as he to oppose the 
influence of it on the continent. One is tempted, 
with Biot, to believe that he never read the book, or 
at most, had merely looked over it. And when we 
consider that it was written in the synthetic form, 
which Leibnitz was averse to employing in math- 
ematical investigations, and especially that the 
thorough study of the work would have required 
much more time and labor than Leibnitz had to spare 
for mathematical studies, the conjecture acquires a 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 105 

good degree of probability. In fact, Leibnitz derived 
his first knowledge of the Principia from an extract 
from it in the Acta Eruditorum for 1689, which he 
received while travelling in Italy ; and to which he 
immediately replied, in an essay published in the 
same journal, with the title of Tentamen de motuum 
celestium causis. We must remember, moreover, 
that Leibnitz's opposition to the natural philosophy 
of Newton grew, in part, out of his peculiar meta- 
physical principles, as may be seen in his correspond- 
ence with Samuel Clark ; and it must also be con- 
fessed that the Newtonian mechanism of the heavens 
contained many imperfections, which, afterwards 
removed by Laplace, were at the time carried out by 
Leibnitz to their false and absurd consequences. 

We have now to turn our attention for a moment 
to one of the subordinate persons in this controversy. 
Among the zealous disciples of Newton, was M. 
Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, a Swiss mathematician 
resident in London ; and though he lived to see his 
name cast out with dishonor, he succeeded at one 
period of his life in gaining the confidence of the 
most distinguished natural philosophers of his time. 
This person, having taken offence at some neglect of 
him by Leibnitz, had the presumption, in his corre- 
spondence with Huygens, to declare that Leibnitz, 
instead of being the original author of the differential 
calculus, had obtained his first idea of it from New- 
ton's letter to him on the subject; and also to express 
his surprise that Leibnitz had made no reference to 
this information in the Acta Eruditorum-. This 



106 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

charge, together with several gratuitous aspersions 
on the character of Leibnitz, Fatio took occasion to 
make public, in a paper communicated to the Royal 
Society in 1699, on the line of quickest descent. 
" Compelled by the evidence of facts," said he, " I 
hold Newton to have been the first inventor of this 
calculus, and the earliest by several years; and 
whether Leibnitz, the second inventor, has borrowed 
any thing from the other, I would prefer to my own 
judgment that of those who have seen the letters, 
and other copies of the same manuscripts of New- 
ton." This attack called forth from Leibnitz a reply 
in the Acta Eruditorum, entitled, Responsio ad Du. 
Nic. Fatii Duillierii imputationes. This reply, 
though full of irony in its allusions to Fatio, was 
temperate and dignified in its tone, and made the 
most honorable mention of Newton. "At least," 
said the writer, referring to Newton, " the excellent 
man appeared, in several conversations with friends 
of mine, to manifest a kind disposition towards me, 
and made to them no complaints, so far as I know. 
In public, also, he has spoken of me in terms which 
it would be most unjust to find fault with. I, too, 
have acknowledged his great services on appropriate 
occasions ; and he best knows, as in his Principia he 
has also explicitly and publicly testified, that neither 
of us is indebted, for the geometrical discoveries 
made in common by us both, to any light kindled by 
the other, but to his own meditations ; and that these 
discoveries were explained and set forth by me so 
long as ten years ago (accordingly about the year 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 107 

1676). At least, when I published my elements of 
the differential calculus, in 1684, I knew nothing of 
his discoveries in this department, except what he 
himself had told me in one of his letters, wherein he 
stated that he could draw tangents without getting 
rid of the irrational quantities, — which was no more 
than Huygens, as he himself afterwards informed 
me, could also do, though he was not further ac- 
quainted with this calculus. That Newton had 
accomplished much more than this, I first learned on 
meeting with his Principia ; but that he was occu- 
pied with a calculus so similar to the differential, 
was not known to me until the appearance of the 
first two parts of the work of Wallis, to which my 
attention was called by Huygens, who sent me an 
extract referring to Newton." 

The appearance of constraint so obvious in the 
foregoing acknowledgment of the rights of Newton, 
while the writer at the same time claims for himself 
the honor of an original discoverer, and appeals to 
the celebrated scholium in the Principia, as a con- 
firmation of his claims, shows that as there had been 
much irony in his allusions to Fatio, so there was 
some insincerity in his compliments to Newton. 
And when we consider the expression in the Re- 
sponsio, " a calculus so similar to the differential," 
and also observe the whole tenor of this reply 
describing the relation sustained by the writer to 
Newton, we can hardly refrain from believing that 
Leibnitz intended not only to disavow the charge of 
plagiarism brought against him by the friend and 



10S LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

intimate associate of Newton, but even to suggest 
that Newton might be guilty of this very crime 
himself. The sensibilities of Leibnitz must have 
been deeply wounded by an accusation of this kind, 
proceeding from a person so closely allied to New- 
ton ; and we accordingly find him soon afterwards 
retorting the charge. 

In 1704, Newton, in publishing his celebrated 
work on optics, appended to it two treatises, com- 
posed a long time before, on the method of fluxions. 
This was obviously done for the purpose of vindica- 
ting his claim to the priority of his calculus, con- 
sidered by him as identical with the differential. 
Thereupon appeared in the Acta Eruditorum of the 
next year, an anonymous critique upon this work, in 
which occurred the passage following. " Instead, 
therefore, of the differences of Leibnitz, Newton 
applies, and has always applied, fluxions, . . . and 
made elegant use of them in his Principia, and other 
writings published afterwards; as also Honoratus 
Fabrius, in his Synopsi Geometrica, substituted 
progressive motion in place of the indivisibles of 
Cavallieri." (Pro differentiis igitur Leibnitianis D. 
Newtonus adhibit, semperque adhibuit, fluxiones, . . . 
iisque tarn in suis Principiis Naturae Mathematicis, 
turn in aliis post editis, eleganter est usus ; quern 
admodum et Honoratus Fabrius in sua Synopsi 
Geometrica, motuumque progressus Cavallerianae 
methodo substituit.) As now Fabrius, instead of 
being the author of the method here referred to, had 
borrowed it from Cavallieri, merely changing the 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 109 

notation, it was a natural inference that the anony- 
mous writer designed indirectly to charge Newton 
with the same crime which Fatio had imputed to 
Leibnitz. A long dispute arose respecting the 
authorship of this obnoxious critique. Leibnitz 
would not allow that he knew who had written it, 
and also endeavored to explain away the offensive 
sense of the words above quoted; but, in truth, this 
sense can no more be disputed, than can the fact, 
we fear, that the author of the article was no other 
than Leibnitz himself. At least, there are in the 
Pauline library, at Leipsic, numerous manuscripts, 
with the name of Leibnitz attached to them, which 
were published anonymously by him, in the Acta 
Eruditorum; and among them is the original manu- 
script of the critique in question. For this informa- 
tion we are indebted to Ludovici, w r ho, however, 
was not aware of its literary importance. 

The friends of Newton knowing, at least, that the 
Acta Eruditorum was the organ of Leibnitz, even if 
the obnoxious article were not from his pen, were 
extremely offended at the accusation contained in it. 
Accordingly, in 1708, one of Newton's most zealous 
disciples, John Keill, Professor of astronomy at 
Oxford, published a paper in the philosophical 
transactions of the Eoyal Society, wherein he reit- 
erated the charge of plagiarism, made against Leib- 
nitz, by Fatio, declaring that "the same calculus 
(Newton's) was afterwards published by Leibnitz, 
the name and the mode of notation being changed." 
Hereupon Leibnitz, under date of March 4, 1711, 



110 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

wrote to Sir Hans Sloane, complaining of the injus- 
tice that had been done him by Keill, and calling 
upon the Society to compel him to disown the 
accusation of plagiarism, implied in the words which 
had been used by him. Keill, in consequence, 
addressed to the Secretary of the Royal Society a 
communication, wherein he declared, by way of 
apology, that he had not designed to say that Leib- 
nitz had known either the name of Newton's method, 
or the form of notation employed in it ; but merely 
that "Newton was the first inventor of fluxions, or 
of the differential calculus, and that he had given, 
in two letters to Oldenburg, and which he had 
transmitted to Leibnitz, indications of it sufficiently 
intelligible to an acute mind, from which Leibnitz 
derived, or at least might derive, the principles of 
his calculus." But this explanation did not satisfy 
Leibnitz. He saw himself accused of a grave 
offence, by a member of a literary society to which 
he belonged; and though this person was much his 
junior in years, and his inferior in reputation, yet 
his accusation was countenanced by individuals of 
far higher distinction, and he felt bound, in compli- 
ance with the usages of the Society, to defend him- 
self. Leibnitz, therefore, again wrote to Hans 
Sloane, under date of December 29, 1711, expressing 
his disapprobation of the modified statements of 
Keill, together with his belief that neither Newton 
nor his learned associates would give them counte- 
nance. Upon the reception of this letter from 
Leibnitz, the Royal Society constituted itself a tribu- 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. Ill 

nal for investigating and determining the merits of 
the controversy. A commission was appointed to 
examine the letters and documents preserved in the 
archives of the Society, and to make a report on the 
whole matter; but no notice w r as given of the fact to 
Leibnitz, that he might appear, by his friends or 
otherwise, in his defence. The commission, starting 
with the assumption that the fluxionary and the 
differential calculus were identical, considered the 
question they were appointed to decide, to be, not 
who had discovered the one, and w 7 ho the other 
calculus, but who was the original author of the 
methods which, under different names and different 
methods of notation, were one and the same. Ac- 
cordingly, after an examination had been made of 
the correspondence of Barrow, Collins, Oldenburg, 
Gregory, Newton and Leibnitz, being in fact not all 
the documents necessary to exhibit the claims of 
both parties, the question was decided by chronology 
alone in favor of the English philosopher. The 
report of the committee, pronouncing Newton to be 
the first discoverer of the fluxionary or differential 
calculus, together with such papers as had been 
followed in its formation, and also critical remarks 
on these documents, by Keill, for the purpose of 
supporting the committee's decision, were published 
by the Society, in January, 1713, under the title of 
Commercium Epistolicum D. Johannis Collins et 
aliorum de analysi promota, jussu Societatis Regies 
in lucem editum; and were gratuitously circulated 
throughout Europe. 



112 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

Bat this report, as partial to the claims of Newton 
as one made by a similar society of German philos- 
ophers would, no doubt, have been to Leibnitz, only 
added fuel to the flames of controversy. It was, 
indeed, no easy task to smother the animosity which, 
first enkindled forty years before, had been constant- 
ly fanned by so many persons, both in England and 
on the continent. Leibnitz had not done greater 
injustice to Newton than the Royal Society had 
now done to himself; but he was, for a time, too 
indignant at the exparte statements of the English 
committee to make any public reply. 

A year after the publication of the Society's 
report, however, there appeared a Charta Volans on 
the same subject, without the name either of the 
author or of the place of publication, but purporting 
to have been written by a friend of Leibnitz. This 
loose sheet contained an extract from a letter written, 
under date of July 7, 1713, by "a mathematician of 
the first rank," afterwards known to have been John 
Bernouilli. In this extract, the opinion was ex- 
pressed and supported by reasons stated at large, 
that Newton's method of fluxions was a plagiarism 
from the differential calculus of Leibnitz. The 
extract was also preceded and followed by statements 
confirmatory of the charge contained in it. Pub- 
lished in the Journal Litteraire, and extensively 
circulated, this sheet excited general attention, and 
1 deeply wounded the feelings of Newton. Biot has 
remarked, that Bernouilli, in this letter, made only 
one observation of importance, which referred to the 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 113 

characteristic difference in the notation employed by 
the two rival philosophers ; and that, in many par- 
ticulars, he did Newton manifest injustice. But 
Bernouilli, it may be said, by way of apology, never 
expected that the letter would be made public. The 
person who did publish it, and who was the author 
of the pamphlet, as we are informed by Bernouilli, 
was Leibnitz himself. This fact was known at the 
time to Bernouilli alone, to whom Leibnitz commu- 
nicated it by letter, bearing date August 13, 1713. 
In addition to the Charta Volans, Leibnitz designed 
to write, at his leisure, a complete history of the 
differential calculus, accompanied by a selection 
from the correspondence between himself and others 
respecting it. This was to be in reply to the Com- 
mercium Epistolicum published by the Royal 
Society; but death overtook him at his task. 

At this period, when the controversy between 
Leibnitz and Newton had become personal, the 
Abbe Conti, a noble Venetian, and John Chamber- 
layne, the linguist, offered themselves, in accordance 
with the wishes of George I, of England, as media- 
tors. Thereupon, the two great champions proceed- 
ed, in their letters to their mediating friends, to pour 
out upon the heads of each other the vials of bitter- 
ness which this prolonged controversy had at length 
filled to overflowing. In consequence of countless 
and most unfortunate misunderstandings, each re- 
tracted whatever of confidence or acknowledgment 
he had expressed towards the other. And we are 



114 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

sorry to feel called upon to add, Newton, not weary 
of the acrimonious dispute protracted up to the 
decease of Leibnitz, persevered in his accusations 
even after the lips of his great rival, closed in death, 
were no longer able to defend his memory. An 
edition of the Commercium Epistolicum, prepared 
for general circulation, together with two letters of 
Leibnitz, newly obtained by Newton, and accompa- 
nied with a bitter refutation of them from the pen of 
the latter, was published after the death of Leibnitz. 
To the excuse of this procedure, urged by the friends 
of Newton, that the refutation was written previously 
to Leibnitz's decease, Biot replied, "I grant that 
New r ton wrote the refutation before the death of 
Leibnitz, that he at first showed it only to his 
friends, and, when Leibnitz was dead and gone, did 
no more than publish it. Better," he adds, "were 
the words of Leibnitz, who, refraining from publish- 
ing his work against Locke's Essay on Human 
Understanding after the decease of the latter, wrote 
to a friend, 'I have always been unwilling to lay 
before the public, refutations of authors no longer 
living, even though these refutations might, with 
perfect propriety, have appeared, and been commu- 
nicated to them, during their lifetime.' " 

Thus ended the unhappy strife which, after em- 
bittering the last years of both Leibnitz and Newton, 
kept the learned portion of their respective nations 
in unfriendly separation for a whole age. To the 
prejudices naturally growing out of it, is also to be 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 115 

attributed, in part, the fact that the greatness of the 
German mathematician and philosopher was never 
rightly appreciated in France, during the prevalence 
of the philosophy of Newton and Locke in that 
country, and has not been fully acknowledged in 
England, even to the present day. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Leibnitz accepts an invitation to enter the service of the Duke of 
Hanover — Returns to Germany by the way of London — Visits 
Hudde in Amsterdam, and Spinoza at the Hague — Arrives at 
Hanover — Character of the court — He becomes acquainted 
with Steno, apostolic vicar, and Molanus, abbot of Lockum — 
Introduces the invention of phosphorus into Hanover — His visit 
to Hamburg — His acquaintance with John Joachim Becher — 
He studies the art of mining in the Hartz mountains — Attempts 
to drain the ducal mines — His geological investigations — He 
studies coining and currency — Is made court counsellor — His 
arduous public duties — His Dejure suprematus. 

From the narration of the unhappy controversy 
between Leibnitz and Newton, we now return to 
that period in the life of the former when he left 
Paris to enter into the service of the Duke of Hano- 
ver. This prince, in the year 1676, invited Leibnitz, 
for the third time, to take up his residence in Hano- 
ver, offering him the offices of counsellor and libra- 
rian. Leibnitz accepted the invitation; and return- 
ing the papers of Blaise Pascal, on conic sections, 
which had been entrusted to him by the heirs of the 
French mathematician, for the purpose of being 
edited, he hastened away from the city where, a 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 117 

little time before, he had thought of establishing a 
permanent home. 

In returning to Germany, Leibnitz made a circuit 
through London and Amsterdam. In the former 
city he spent only a single week, but made several 
new acquaintances, and among them that of Collins, 
the friend of Newton. In Amsterdam he visited 
the great Dutch mathematician, Hudde, to his 
interview with whom he alluded in a letter to 
Oldenburg as follows: "I had, while in Amsterdam, 
some conversation with Huddeus, whose time is 
wholly engrossed by affairs of state. For he is one 
of the twelve burgomasters of the city, who adminis- 
ter the government in succession. A short time 
ago it was his turn to be burgomaster, but he now 
fills the office of treasurer. It is certain that his 
papers must contain much that is most excellent. 
The method of tangents published by Slusins had, 
for a long time, been known to him; and his own is 
more comprehensive. Mercator's quadrature of the 
hyperbola was also known to him as early as the 
year 1662." 

From Amsterdam Leibnitz turned aside to the 
Hague, to visit that remarkable thinker, Benedict 
Spinoza. In his Theodicea, Leibnitz observes, that 
in his interview with Spinoza, the latter conversed 
respecting the course of his education, and narrated 
many characteristic anecdotes pertaining to the his- 
tory of the times. He spoke particularly of his 
teacher in the Latin language, Van den Ende, 
whom, previously to his engaging in the conspiracy 



US LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

of the Chevalier de Rohan, Leibnitz had sought out 
and conversed with in Paris. It is to be regretted 
that so little is known concerning the interview of 
Leibnitz with Spinoza, as the conversation and per- 
sonal appearance of this illustrious Jew, then but a 
step or two from the borders of the grave, can hardly 
have failed to produce a deep impression upon the 
mind, and to have been long cherished in the mem- 
ory of the young man of thirty. 

Arriving at his journey's end near the close of 
December, Leibnitz was graciously received by the 
Duke, to whom he was already known by his letters 
and writings, — by the high ecclesiastical dignitaries, 
to whom he brought a flattering introduction from 
Anthony Arnaud, — and by the court generally, which 
was, at that time, one of the most elegant and culti- 
vated in Germany. The Duke, a recent convert to 
Popery, was surrounded, indeed, by Roman Cath- 
olics; but the mildness of Leibnitz's disposition and 
the liberality of his sentiments placed him at once 
in such harmonious relations, both to prince and 
courtiers, that he, who not long before tired of serv- 
ing the great, was anxious to establish himself in 
social independence, soon became so well pleased 
with his new situation, as to pronounce the service 
of so magnanimous a prince preferable to the enjoy- 
ment of the most perfect freedom. 

At the period of which we write, the court of 
John Frederic was graced by the presence of several 
literary persons of distinction. Among these was 
the apostolic vicar, Nicholas Steno, from Denmark. 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 119 

Earlier in life a distinguished physician, anatomist 
and geologist, he had suddenly changed his religion, 
his profession and his mode of life; but thereby 
converted an eminent natural philosopher into a 
very moderate divine. Another person, still more 
prominent, was Gerhard Molanus, abbot of Lockum, 
and president of the consistory in Hanover, a man 
of extensive knowledge and most excellent character, 
and, in the judgment of Leibnitz, " an incomparable 
theologian." By Molanus, Leibnitz was also made 
acquainted with a friend of the former, Arnold 
Eckhart, a zealous disciple of Cartesius, both in 
mathematics and metaphysics ; and with whom 
Leibnitz carried on, for a considerable time, a dis- 
pute by letter, respecting questions in mathematical 
analysis, and also concerning the Cartesian proof of 
the existence of God. 

Some time during the first year of his residence 
in Hanover, Leibnitz manifested his interest in the 
useful arts by introducing to the notice of the Duke 
and his court, a discovery which soon attracted 
attention throughout Europe. This was the discov- 
ery of phosphorus, by one Brand, of Hamburg, who 
fell upon it accidentally while endeavoring, accord- 
ing to the directions of a book on alchymy, to extract 
from urine a fluid substance, which, it was supposed, 
would change silver into gold. At the solicitation 
of Leibnitz, Brand was sent for by the Duke, to 
come to Hanover; and after his arrival, having 
tried several experiments with success, he was 
generously rewarded, by John Frederic, with a pen- 



120 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

sion. Specimens of the new compound were 
forwarded, by Leibnitz to Huygens, as well as a 
learned account of the discovery to the Academy of 
Sciences in Paris. 

Towards the end of the year 1678, Leibnitz, 
» commissioned by the Duke, purchased in Hamburg 
the library formerly belonging to the learned physi- 
cian and natural philosopher, Martin Fogel, then 
recently deceased, — a collection of books which 
forms no unimportant part of the present royal library 
in Hanover. While in Hamburg, Leibnitz made 
the acquaintance of the gifted but eccentric chemist 
and mechanician, John Joachim Becher. This per- 
son may be considered as the representative of 
chemical science in Germany at that period, as 
Lemery was in France, and Boyle in England. 
He it was who laid the foundation of the phlogistic 
theory, which, reduced to a system by Stahl, pre- 
vailed universally until the discoveries of Lavoisier. 
It happened that Leibnitz, in conversation with this 
no less whimsical and malicious, than brilliant gen- 
ius, let fall some remarks respecting a project of his 
for improving the then very clumsy travelling car- 
riages of Germany; and having, shortly afterwards, 
given mortal offence to Becher, by interfering to 
prevent him from interesting the mind of the then 
reigning Duke of Hanover in the speculations of 
alchymy, this fantastic philosopher, in a book written 
about five years afterwards, and entitled Foolish 
Wisdom and Wise Folly , did not fail, bearing in 
memory the unlucky project of the travelling car- 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 121 

riages, to adduce as a signal example of wise follies, 
" Leibnitz's post-wagons, constructed to travel in six 
hours from Hanover to Amsterdam ! " This pleas- 
antry gave Leibnitz some uneasiness. Whether it 
prevented his ever attempting to realize his contem- 
plated improvements, is not certainly known, though 
it is quite plain that the German postilions of the 
present day have received no information, historical 
or traditionary, touching any such sort of betterments. 
Not long after his arrival in Hanover, Leibnitz 
became deeply interested in the mining operations 
carried on by the Duke in the Hartz mountains. 
The valuable silver mines in that region were very 
seriously damaged by the water which was constant- 
ly running in from the heights above ; and Leibnitz, 
encouraged by the promise of an annual salary of 
two thousand thalers in case of success, earnestly 
undertook to devise some means of preventing this 
evil. He, accordingly, for a number of years, spent 
several months annually in those romantic regions, 
then the scene of numerous popular fables, and since 
made classic by the immortal author of the Faust. 
But the practical hindrances which were constantly 
thrown in his way by the subordinate agents and 
workmen, compelled him, after the application of no 
little time and pains to the accomplishment of his 
design, finally to abandon it. The time, however, 
spent by Leibnitz in the mountains was not lost. 
Accustomed to make himself thoroughly master of 
every branch of knowledge to which his attention 
was directed, he embraced the opportunity thus 



122 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

furnished of making himself perfectly familiar with 
the arts of mining and coining, and also of investi- 
gating the important uses they might be made to 
subserve in the general economy. Like Copernicus 
before him, Locke at about the same time, and 
Newton afterwards, Leibnitz made coining and cur- 
rency the objects of prolonged reflection. His views 
upon these subjects were afterwards communicated 
to several German princes, and contributed in no 
small degree to make the Hanoverian currency, at 
that time, equal if not superior to that of any country 
of Europe. Nor were these the only fruits of his 
meditations in the Hartz. Besides becoming com- 
pletely versed in the mineralogical learning of the 
times, he entered upon the study of geology, and 
made an extensive collection of geological observa- 
tions, the results of which, together with similar 
information afterwards obtained in his travels in the 
north of Germany, Dalmatia and Italy, were set 
forth in his Protogaa, written in 1691, but not pub- 
lished until after his death. Besides sending a 
manuscript copy of this work to the Sorbonne, he 
gave a brief account of his labors in this department 
of science in the Acta Eruditorum of 1693, and also 
a popular notice of them in his Theodicea. To his 
praise, be it said, that in an age when the theolog- 
ical sentiments prevailing even among Protestants 
presented a serious obstacle to the formation of cor- 
rect views in geology, Leibnitz was the first person 
in Germany who made the various layers composing 
the earth's surface the foundation of a general geo- 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 123 

logical theory respecting the origin and structure of 
our planet. He also took the view, to which cur- 
rency was afterwards given by the brilliant name of 
Buffon, that the various strata of the surface of the 
earth were formed by the processes of cooling and 
evaporation, occasioned by the withdrawal of heat 
from the circumference of the globe to the centre; 
and to him belongs the merit, accordingly, of having 
given so early a right direction to inquiries in geol- 
ogy. Moreover, Leibnitz devoted considerable at- 
tention to the collection and preservation of the 
remains of extinct races of animals, and did consid- 
erable towards diffusing an interest in these subjects 
among persons of distinction and learning. 

Hitherto we have seen Leibnitz acting more in an 
individual than an official capacity ; but in 1678, he 
was raised by the Duke to the office of court coun- 
sellor, and compelled to take upon himself the dis- 
charge of arduous public duties. By virtue of his 
new office, he was also a judge in the court of 
chancery; and was, accordingly, restored to that 
professional life from which he had retired on his 
departure from Mentz. In the discharge of these 
judicial duties, — not to mention the attention given 
to the ducal library, and the maintenance of an 
extensive literary correspondence, — so much of the 
time of Leibnitz was consumed that only a very 
little leisure remained for the prosecution of his 
favorite scientific pursuits. Indeed, not content to 
lead, like Spinoza, merely a life of philosophic ab- 
straction, he was ambitious, also, to take part in the 



124 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 



ordering of affairs; and made it his endeavor, not 
only to leave such writings behind him as would 
influence posterity, but also to bring his ideas of 
general improvement to bear upon the minds and 
institutions of his own generation. 

Accordingly, at this period, we find Leibnitz once 
more resuming his pen in matters of diplomacy. 
John Frederic, who, in imitation of the saying of 
Louis XIV, Uetat c'est moi, once declared to the 
representatives of his subjects, In my land I am 
emperor, and who was ambitious of raising himself 
to the rank of an Elector of the German empire, did 
not fail to avail himself of the diplomatic talents of 
Leibnitz to extend the influence and increase the 
dignity of the house of Hanover. The Duke had, 
for several years, been engaged in a controversy 
with the emperor, because the latter would not allow 
to the diplomatic agents of Hanover and some other 
small states, the rank of ambassadors of the empire ; 
and, in 1677, at the request of his patron, Leibnitz 
wrote a state paper on this subject, which was pub- 
lished at Amsterdam, under the title of Ccesarini 
Furstenerii de jure suprematus ac legationis prin- 
cipum Germanice. In this document, the writer 
stated, with very great learning and ability, the 
rights of the smaller princes, while, at the same 
time, he labored to show that the allowance of their 
claims, instead of degrading the imperial dignity, 
would rather serve, by uniting the different German 
states, greatly to increase the political influence of 
the empire. But Leibnitz was too philosophical in 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 125 

his theories and too patriotic in his purposes to be 
successful in carrying through political measures of 
temporary expediency; and, by a fatality which 
attended most of his writings on similar topics, this 
paper also failed of accomplishing the purpose for 
which it was intended. 

But this able paper, De jure suprematus, though 
it did not produce immediate political effect, is, 
nevertheless, of great biographical importance, on 
account of its containing Leibnitz's leading views in 
political science; and in the following chapter we 
shall make it the occasion of speaking somewhat at 
length of the growth and characteristics of his philo- 
sophical system generally. 



I 



CHAPTER IX. 

The influence of jurisprudence on Leibnitz's system of philosophy 
— His doctrine of theocracy — Compared with the systems of 
Hobbes and Puffendorf— His views of natural law — His idea of 
substance — Doctrine of monads — Pre-established harmony — Op- 
timism — Theodicea — Form of Leibnitz's philosophy — His rela- 
tion to Descartes and Spinoza — Peter Bayle — John Locke. 

In early life, Leibnitz was attached to the Carte- 
sian philosophy ; but his reflections at a later period 
on natural law, and the constitution of civil society, 
leading him to the study of the human mind, and 
then to that of the external world, he finally arrived 
at results respecting the nature of soul and matter, 
which differed widely from those of Descartes, and 
constituted the foundations of a peculiar system of 
metaphysics. It was not theology, as in the case of 
the scholastics, nor physics, as in that of the great 
philosophers who in modern times brought about the 
restoration of the sciences, but jurisprudence, from 
which Leibnitz started in his career as a metaphy- 
sician, and from which his system of philosophy 
derived its characteristic features. The idea of 
right, of justice, gave tone even to the university 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 127 

essay, De Arte Combinatoria; it assumed a still 
more prominent rank in the Methodus nova; it was 
the guiding thought to the principles laid down on 
the subject of natural law in the Theodicea; and 
was introduced in the treatise, mentioned at the 
close of the preceding chapter, Be jure suprematus, 
as the key for resolving what, though in form but a 
dispute about diplomatic etiquette, was in fact a 
question involving important points in the general 
law of the empire. This simple idea of right, how- 
ever, gradually expanded itself into that of theocracy, 
which last finally conducted Leibnitz to his great 
doctrine of a pre-established harmony. The idea of 
theocracy was, indeed, the great idea of his age. It 
manifested itself distinctly, though imperfectly, in 
the despotic rule of Louis XIV, and other cotempo- 
raneous princes in Europe, especially in Germany; 
and was speculatively expressed in the treatises on 
natural law, written by Hobbes and Puffendorf. The 
difference, however, between Leibnitz and these 
cotemporaneous expounders of the law of nature, 
was, that he beheld the realization of his ideal of 
absolute monarchy in the eternal kingdom of God 
only, and never expected to find it in the government 
of any earthly potentate. He acknowledged the 
right and truth of human monarchy, only when 
united by moral and religious relations to the city of 
God ; while Hobbes received human ordinances as 
in themselves absolute, and Puffendorf attempted to 
form a system of natural law entirely independent of 
both religious doctrines and moral precepts. Leib- 



12S LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

nitz, therefore, sympathized less with the views of - 
the German than with those of the English writer ; 
and while he expressed but little respect for Puffen- 
dorf, he spoke in praise of Hobbes, even when en- 
gaged in refuting him. In opposition to the former, 
he maintained that the principles of religion were 
the only true foundation of law, natural or civil. Of 
the latter he wrote in his Be jure suprematus as 
•follows : " The demonstrations of Hobbes can be 
realized only in that republic in which God is king, 
and whom alone all confide in. I do not believe 
that Hobbes's monarchies are to be found either 
among civilized or savage nations. In fact, I hold 
them to be both impossible and undesirable, inas- 
much as the persons, in whose hands the supreme 
power is to be lodged, possess not the virtue of 
angels. Men will prefer to have their own will, and 
look themselves after their own welfare, until they 
have confidence in the supreme wisdom and power 
of their rulers." 

Leibnitz deduced the principles of natural law 
from the idea of theocracy. These, to express his 
views in a word, are three in number, — strict right, 
equity, and piety (jus sti'ictum, cequitas, pietas); to 
which correspond the three sciences of law, politics, 
and theology, or morals. The first, strict right, is 
indeed nothing more than the right of war and 
peace ; and its rule is, to offend no one (neminem 
Icedire), so that there may be given to no one the 
right of war, or any right within the state against 
the state. The rule of equity, which is superior to 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 129 

mere right, is to do what is just to all men (saum 
cuique tribuere). Piety, which again is more per- 
fect than the preceding, consists in doing that which 
is acceptable to the higher powers, — to God, who is 
supreme by nature, and to the civil power, which is 
so by compact; and its law is, to live virtuously 
(honeste vivere). These principles may be found 
fully unfolded in the Methodus nova, in the state 
paper drawn up for the Palsgrave of Neuburg, Spec- 
imen demonstrationum, and also in the able preface 
to the Codex juris diplomaticus. 

Notwithstanding the fact that the philosophical 
views of Leibnitz received their tone and coloring 
mainly from his legal studies, it so happened that 
the occasion on which he first caught a glimpse of 
the leading idea of his metaphysical system, was 
furnished by the investigation of a problem in theol- 
ogy. As has been mentioned in an earlier part of 
this work, Leibnitz, while residing at Mentz, under- 
took, at the request of his patron, Baron von Boine- 
burg, to refute the Cartesian doctrine, that matter and 
spirit are two different substances, the essence of the 
first consisting in extension, and that of the second 
in thought. This was done with the design to prove 
the possibility, if not the actual truth, of the theolog- 
ical dogmas of the real presence and trans ubstantia- 
tion; and thereby promote an union between the 
Lutheran and Catholic churches. Leibnitz accord- 
ingly discarded the atoms of Descartes as the prima- 
ry elements of bodies ; or, rather, he attributed to 
them a spiritual nature. Thus in 1671 he wrote to 

9 



130 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

Anthony Arnaud, one of the most zealous as well as 
celebrated Cartesians and Jansenists, " that the es- 
sence of matter does not consist in extension ; that 
even the substance of matter is without extension, 
and not subject to the limitations of space." The 
same views, also, were two years later repeated in a 
letter to the Duke of Hanover. 

But Leibnitz was then far from having attained to 
that view of substance which afterwards appeared to 
him satisfactory and final. Substance was at that 
time conceived of by him as the spiritual principle of 
bodies, — which was, in fact, a mere abstract concep- 
tion, serving no other purpose than to explain to one 
who received this view how the body of Christ 
might be in different places at the same time. Body 
and soul still appeared to him to stand over against 
each other, as having each a separate and peculiar 
nature. 

But as Leibnitz advanced further in the study of 
geometrical analysis, he obtained views of the spirit- 
ual character of substance, which appeared to him 
more clear and satisfactory. These he even pro- 
ceeded to apply to the explanation of natural phe- 
nomena, as also to the resolution of questions in 
mechanics. He considered the supersensuous sub- 
stance as the principle of motion in the material 
world, and called it power. This moving power was 
original and really existing ; while the things moved 
by it had a merely phenominal or apparent exist- 
ence. Accordingly, in 1686, Leibnitz published, in 
the Acta Eruditorum^ "A short demonstration of a 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 131 

memorable error of Cartesius and others, concerning 
the natural law, according to which they think that 
God always maintains the same quantity of motion ; 
whereby they pervert mechanics." In this paper, 
the writer aimed to show that the quantity of power, 
though not of motion, remained always the same in 
nature. For the power did not cease to exist, when 
the action of it was obstructed. He also showed 
that its direction remained ever unchanged. The 
statement of this new opinion in dynamics gave rise 
to a singular and obstinate controversy respecting 
the measure of living forces {vires viva), which was 
not ended until the time of D'Alembert. 

In these views of Leibnitz, the idea of substance 
was combined with that of motion; but afterwards 
he relieved the first idea of this limitation. Forming 
a more purely abstract notion of substance, he pro- 
nounced it to be energy in general, uncreated, 
indestructible, unlimited, whose activity, unlike the 
potentics of the scholastics, is in itself, and whose 
qualities are deducible from the very nature of its 
own idea. But individualized, it exists in the form 
of souls (enteleckies) , or monads. Substance in 
general, then, is God, the original monad ; and from 
him are derived all individual substances, which 
together constitute the created universe. These 
particular monads, independent of time and space, 
which are mere relations of simultaneous and suc- 
cessive existences, comprise whatever is real and 
substantial in nature. All else is but appearance, 
phenomenon, " a regulated dream." 



132 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

The essential attributes of a monad are an impulse 
or striving (conat7is) to evolve multiplicity out of its 
unity, and to perceive this multiplicity in its unity. 
In the original monad, or God, these attributes are 
absolute and infinite. 

Created substances, or monads, arise by perpetual 
flashings, as of lightning, from the infinite monad, 
whose creative power is limited only by the recepti- 
bility of the creature. Whatever perfection the 
derived monads have is from God ; their imperfection 
springs out of the limitation of their own nature. 

Each of the monads is placed by God in relations 
to the universe. Each, in perceiving and striving to 
accomplish its own aims, perceives and strives to 
accomplish, by virtue of a pre-established harmony 
of things, the aims of the infinite whole. The 
different monads, therefore, may be said to be so 
many mirrors, reflecting the totality of things. 

But all monads do not represent infinity in the 
same way and to the same degree. For God has 
given to them different measures of perfection, — 
subordinating them one to another in such wise, that 
a particular monad may contain in its nature the 
grounds a priori of the nature of others, it being 
active in reference to them, and they passive in 
reference to it. Each monad maybe represented as 
an eye, looking at the whole creation from its par- 
ticular point of view. In this different degree of 
perfection, or ^different mode of reflecting the 
infinite, consists the individuality of the different 
monads. 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 133 

Every monad, moreover, sustains not only a har- 
monious relation to the universe which it strives to 
represent, but also more directly and immediately to 
a number of particular monads, which of themselves 
form a totality, wherein some act as ruling and some 
as serving, or, in other words, as active and passive 
monads. Such totalities are men, the lower animals, 
and plants. The soul of one of these rules the 
monads constituting the body, while each of the 
latter, in turn, is the ruling monad of others subordi- 
nated to it, and so on ad infinitum. Every organ- 
ized body, accordingly, Leibnitz regarded as a divine 
machine, or natural automaton, containing also within 
itself other smaller machines, — or, in other words, 
being made conformable to some plan, even in its 
minutest parts. Thus the limb of an animal, or the 
branch of a plant, is full of other animals and plants, 
of which each has its ruling entelechie or soul. 
Matter being divided, in fact, into infinitely small 
parts, and each of these representing the universe, it 
follows that the smallest atom contains a world of 
animated existence. This view of Leibnitz may 
perhaps not improperly be regarded as anticipatory 
of the discovery recently made in physiology of the 
cellular system, which extends through all vegetable 
and animal organizations. 

In accordance with these views, and also with the 
physiological hypotheses of his cotemporaries, Swam- 
merdam, Walphigi and Leewenhoek, Leibnitz taught 
that an animal existed, body and soul, before concep- 
tion, in the sperm; and that by means of conception, 



134 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

it was merely made to. undergo a great transforma- 
tion. As generation, moreover, was but develop- 
ment and . increase, so death was no more than 
envelopment and diminution. There may be, said 
Leibnitz, metamorphosis, but no metempsychosis, 
among animals. The soul changes its organs grad- 
ually, and is at no time completely deprived of them, 
so that not only the soul, but the animal even, is 
indestructible. Only God is without body. 

The relation which appears to us to subsist be- 
tween the superior and inferior monads, depends 
upon the perfection of their impulses and perceptions. 
"We say, appears to us to subsist, because the relation 
between monads is in fact merely ideal ; for each 
monad in any given body is the centre of a system 
of its own, and a mirror also of the entire creation. 
When the representations of the infinite by the indi- 
vidual are obscure and confused, they are called by 
Leibnitz perceptions. Clear perceptions, accompa- 
nied with attention and memory, are called by him 
apperceptions. Plants are merely perceptive ; but 
monads capable of apperception, such as the lower 
animals, receive the name of souls ; those which, 
besides, by an act of reflection know themselves, that 
is, possess reason, are denominated spirits, to which 
class belongs man. There is also a similar grada- 
tion in impulses, from the simplest kind of impulse, 
or striving, common to all monads, to desires which 
are possessed by the lower animals, and to will, 
which belongs to beings endowed with reason. 

The created spirits, such as man, show the finite- 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 135 

ness of their nature, in that they are not pure spirits. 
They acquire their knowledge, not only through 
reason, but also by apperception, like the inferior 
animals, and by perception, like the plants. And 
though they represent the universe in themselves, 
yet they perceive distinctly but a limited portion of 
it, — that part only which by its nearness or its mag- 
nitude comes within the reach of their vision. The 
rest is but confusedly represented. God alone clearly 
represents and comprehends that which is, and was, 
and shall or can be. Every monad, indeed, strives 
after the infinite ; the present, both in time and place, 
the past and the future, also, are the objects of its 
desires and perfections ; but each one strives after 
and perceives its object with more or less obscurity. 
Therefore there is room for infinite development and 
improvement in the created monads. 

The connection between body and soul is the 
subject, not of apperception, but of perception only. 
The infinite number of the motions and changes in 
the organization of a substance, prevents them from 
becoming more than very faintly and obscurely per- 
ceptible. Bat there is no movement whatsoever in 
the body, whether voluntary or involuntary, which 
is not represented in the mind ; as there is no 
thought, however abstract, to which there is not 
something in the bodily organization corresponding. 

This exact correspondence between the perceptions 
of the soul and the changes in the body, is a conse- 
quence of the harmonious relation pre-established 
between the two. But there is no physical influence 



136 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

exerted by the body on the soul. Both act in ac- 
cordance with their own laws ; and their movements 
partake of the harmony which, established from 
eternity, pervades all things, because both have alike 
for their end the representation of the universe. 
Bodies are moved by efficient, souls by final, causes; 
but both, notwithstanding the spontaneity of the 
action of the ruling monad, or the soul, as well as 
the serving monads, or the body, are moved in exact 
correspondence with each other. Thus the corporeal 
world and the spiritual world may be represented, in 
accordance with this Leibnitzian doctrine of a pre- 
established harmony, as related to each other like 
two clocks, which, though separate from each other, 
are so constructed as to mark simultaneously the 
same hours. 

That which specially distinguishes the spirit of 
man from the souls of the lower animals, is its 
knowledge of necessary and universal truths. These 
make science possible, and elevate man to the know- 
ledge of himself and of God. 

All science is founded on two principles ; — the 
'principle of contradiction, by which we judge every 
thing to be false which implies at the same time 
affirmation and negation, and every thing to be true 
which is the opposite to what is contradictory or 
false ; - and the principle of the sufficient reason, ac- 
cording to which we determine that no fact really 
takes place, without a reason sufficient for its occur- 
ring so, rather than otherwise. 

The first principle leads the philosopher, in his 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 137 

analysis, to those primitive ideas which are capable 
of no further analysis, inasmuch as they express the 
identity of a thing with itself. At bottom, however, 
it is the same as the principle of identity. It consti- 
tutes the unity of the human mind, and is the basis 
of all theories which have necessary truths for their 
object. 

But the principle of the sufficient reason makes 
manifest the objective continuity of the monads, and 
thus binds the universe together. By it, moreover, 
the finite spirit elevates itself to the image of God, 
as the only sufficient cause of the origin and order of 
all things, and to the idea of the totality of things 
united in all its parts by a pre-established harmony. 
Hereby, too, the spirit, ceasing to be merely a mirror 
of things external, becomes an image of God, and 
imitates his creative power. 

These two great principles of identity and of the 
sufficient reason have not only a real existence in 
the world, but also an ideal one in the infinite reason 
and love of the Supreme Being. It was an error of 
Descartes, says Leibnitz, to represent the principles 
of geometry as established by the arbitrary will of 
God, for even the divine mind itself cannot think 
except in accordance with these universal laws. 

Of the infinite number of worlds conceivable by 
the divine mind, it was impossible for more than one 
actually to exist, and the present one was selected 
as the best, according to the principle of the sufficient 
reason. All that is logically possible is not practi- 
cally possible ; and the perfection of this world was 



13S LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

limited by the degree of perfection belonging to the 
monads which in the mind of God claimed, each 
one according to its grade of excellence, to be real- 
ized. This is the optimism of Leibnitz. 

But as it was the superior perfection of this sys- 
tem of things, in comparison with all other possible 
systems, that caused it to be brought into actual 
existence, it follows, that this world must, on the 
whole, be wisely and well ordered. There may be 
particular irregularities and defects, but these do not 
affect the harmony of the great whole, nor even that 
of a single monad. As certain geometrical lines, 
seen in any particular parts only, may appear to be 
irregular, which viewed in their entirety, are per- 
ceived to be drawn according to a regular plan, so 
the order of the world, as well as of each particular 
monad, considered as a whole, is promoted even by 
the disorders apparent in particulars. This is true 
of imperfections, both in the physical and moral 
world; and it justifies the wisdom and goodness of 
God, both as the architect of the universe and the 
ruler of all intelligences. This is the doctrine of 
Leibnitz's Theodicea. 

All men, as well as spirits superior to them, are 
members of that state which is governed by the 
greatest and best of monarchs, the city of God. 
This universal monarchy in the moral world is the* 
most exalted of all the works of the Creator, and 
most gloriously displays his goodness. 

There exists a perfect harmony between the king- 
doms of nature and of grace. All the works of 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 139 

God, as the Creator of the universe, conspire to 
promote the accomplishment of his plans as governor 
of the celestial city of spirits. Thus, for example, 
this planet will be destroyed and renovated by the 
ordinary agencies of nature, at the precise time 
requisite for the punishment of the wicked and the 
reward of the just. The consequences of sin and of 
virtue are made sure by the ordinances of nature. 
All things conspire to promote the welfare and hap- 
piness of those who, trusting in Providence, do their 
duty; who, in the spirit of love, labor to advance 
the great purposes of God, while they contentedly 
submit to the imperfections of the present state of 
things. 

An affectionate faith in God, that he has so 
ordered the world as to secure the greatest possible 
amount of happiness and virtue, procures for the 
soul a foretaste of future felicity, gives it more than 
the patience of the Stoics, a true, solid peace. But 
as our knowledge of the infinite is imperfect, so, 
consequently, is our happiness, which consists, in 
fact, not in the complete satisfaction of all desires, 
but in a constant advancement to new perfections 
and higher delights. 

Such, very briefly stated, is Leibnitz's doctrine of 
morals, and his system of philosophy built upon it. 
In one respect, the Leibnitzian theocratic philosophy 
resembles that of Plato, as it makes physics a kind 
of objective ethics. From his cotemporaries he 
differed in resolving all questions in morals and 
theology by a reference to the universal principles 



140 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

which enter into the structure of the universe. The 
same universality and general harmony, it may be 
added, which pervade his speculative system, also 
characterized his life, so that from the great princi- 
ples of his philosophy we may the better understand 
the true spirit of his conduct. Much of the wisdom 
of his thinking passed likewise into his living. 

In form, the philosophy of Leibnitz is imperfect 
and fragmentary. Unlike his great cotemporary, 
Spinoza, he did not sit down in tranquil seclusion to 
write works for posterity, but stated his views, to a 
great extent, in occasional essays, published at the 
time in magazines, and rarely without some refer- 
ence to important questions of the day in politics or 
theology. This constant reference to different par- 
ties and persons gives, indeed, to his philosophy the 
appearance of less completeness and originality than 
actually belonged to it. But Leibnitz labored more 
faithfully for the cause of truth than for the reputa- 
tion of originality; and, instead of being ambitious 
to construct a perfectly new system, he was the first 
among the modern philosophers who sought to 
reconcile his own views with those of the great 
thinkers of antiquity and the middle ages. "I have 
found," Leibnitz wrote, in 1714, to Raymond de 
Montmort, "that the greater number of sects are 
right in much which they affirm, but not in what 
they deny. The formalists, like the Platonists and 
Aristotelians, are in the right when they recognize 
the fountain of things in the final and formal causes ; 
but they are in the wrong when they neglect the 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. . 141 

efficient and material causes, and, like Henry More, 
in England, and certain Platonists, conclude that 
there are appearances which cannot be accounted 
for mechanically. On the other side, the material- 
ists, or those who occupy themselves exclusively 
with mechanical philosophy, are in error in discard- 
ing metaphysics and attempting to explain every- 
thing directly or indirectly through the imagination. 
I flatter myself that I have penetrated into the 
harmony of the different kingdoms; and have seen 
that both parties are right, if they only would not 
exclude each other. ,, 

Far in advance of the spirit of his times, and even 
anticipating the universality of our own, Leibnitz 
acknowledged that there were truths of the highest 
importance to be found in the writings of earlier 
times. The oriental sages, he said, had great and 
beautiful thoughts; the Greeks added dialectical 
form; the Christian fathers rejected the errors of 
Greek philosophy; and the scholastics sought to 
make the truths of heathenism subservient to the 
advancement of Christianity. With Descartes, 
however, he found fault as disposed to overlook the 
merits of preceding philosophers, and to consider 
science as beginning and ending with himself. 

But while Leibnitz looked with no friendly eyes 
upon the founder of the Cartesian philosophy, he 
appreciated what was good in it, and held some of 
its disciples in the highest esteem. Among these 
he especially cultivated the friendship of Malle- 
branche and Anthony Arnaud. With the latter he 



142 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

remained in correspondence until the day of his 
death; and communicating his speculations to him 
from time to time in letters of great length, he at 
last succeeded in prevailing upon his friend to relin- 
quish the philosophy of Descartes, in many particu- 
lars, for that of his own. 

To the relation between Leibnitz and Spinoza we 
have before alluded. The former had already laid 
the corner-stone of his system, when he first received 
the work of the latter on ethics. It was natural, 
therefore, that Leibnitz should have been repelled 
by this remarkable book, although it cannot have 
failed to exert no little influence upon him. This it 
must have done, if in no other way, by compelling 
him to struggle hard to maintain his ground in the 
face of so powerful an opponent. He considered 
Spinoza's system of philosophy as the last extreme 
of Cartesianism, and made use of it as such in his 
contests with the Cartesians. But his opposition to 
Spinoza directly was only occasional, because this 
philosopher was then not made the subject of lectures 
at the universities, but was rather despised than 
studied. Descartes, on the contrary, had a host of 
followers, and with these Leibnitz frequently became 
so earnestly engaged in controversy, as to be led to 
do more to diminish the influence of this master 
than he would otherwise have wished to do. 

Excepting in the case of the Cartesians, Leibnitz 
was always grateful for the advantages derived 
from the critical examination of his views by clear- 
sighted antagonists. And to none was he more 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 143 

indebted than to that remarkable man, who lacked 
nothing but the power of invention to have been 
equal in intellect to the greatest of his cotemporaries, 
and whose extensive influence upon the culture of 
his age far exceeded that of most of them, — Peter 
Bayle. To the exceptions which this more skeptical 
than critical writer took in his celebrated dictionary 
to the ideas of Leibnitz, we owe the most careful 
and thorough investigation of them by their author. 
Compelled vigorously to defend his system at all 
points, Leibnitz, in one of his replies to his adversa- 
ry, compared himself to Antaeus in the fable, who, 
thrown to the ground, arose with increased strength 
for the victory. Even after the death of this great 
critic, Leibnitz, when controverting the opinions of 
the former, in the Theodicea, could not refrain from 
asking, with sufficient naivete, "And what would 
Bayle have said to this ? " 

A still more formidable opponent Leibnitz, and 
also the whole German school of philosophy, met 
with in his great English cotemporary, John Locke. 
For a refutation of Leibnitz, the main aim of whose 
system was to establish the doctrine of innate ideas 
by the theory of monads, would have undermined 
the common ground of speculative idealism, occupied 
also by Descartes and Spinoza. In opposition to 
these ideal philosophers, Locke came forward with 
a system of sensualism. His great work on the 
human understanding, published in 1688, immedi- 
ately attracted the earnest attention of Leibnitz. 
But having at that time only just commenced the 



144 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

formation of his own system of metaphysics, he was 
not prepared to refute that of his more advanced 
opponent; and, in fact, he was the first among the 
more prominent philosophers, to acknowledge the 
great merits of the Essay on Human Understanding, 
as well as those of the other works of Locke. 
Leibnitz accordingly contented himself, for the time 
being, with writing down, without any design of 
publication, such reflections as occurred to him 
while reading the essay, and afterwards sent them 
to Locke. These were published, in connection 
with the papers left by Locke, under the title of 
Reflexions sur V Essay de Ventendement humain de 
Mr. Locke. They contained, if nothing else, the 
remark, which was a whole volume in itself, that 
"the question respecting the origin of our ideas and 
maxims, is not a preliminary one in philosophy; 
and a person must have made great advances in this 
science, in order to answer it correctly." 

In the summer of 1703, Leibnitz being then, with 
several members of the Hanoverian court, at Her- 
renhausen, took up again the Essay on Human 
Understanding, and set forth at large his views 
respecting it, in the form of a dialogue between a 
disciple of Locke and one of his own philosophy. 
These swelled, at length, into a book, under the title 
of Nouveaux essays sur Ventendement humain; one, 
notwithstanding its fragmentary character, of the 
most valuable and comprehensive of the philosophi- 
cal works of Leibnitz, but which, in consequence of 
the death of Locke, was not published during the 
author's life-time. 



CHAPTER X. 



Leibnitz's project of an universal language — He applies to Louis 
XIV for aid in executing it — His relation to the Church of 
Rome — His reasons for not joining it — Correspondence with 
the Landgave of Hesse Rheinfels, and with Madame Brinon, on 
this subject — Spinolaj Huetj Bossuet — Death of the Duke John 
Frederic ; and succession of Ernest Augustus — Leibnitz wishes 
to reside in Vienna ; and to become a foreign member of the 
Academy of Sciences in Paris — He writes a tract against Louis 
XIV, on the occasion of the seige of Vienna by the Turks — His 
intimate relation with the princes of the House of Brunswick — 
Character of Sophia, Duchess of Hanover — Molanus. 

In the first years of Leibnitz's residence in Hano- 
ver, he devoted some portion of his leisure to a 
subject which he considered of the greatest import- 
ance ; and which, having- from early life occasionally 
occupied his attention, continued to be a favorite 
study, even until his death. We refer to his project 
of an universal language, or philosophical alphabet 
of thought. Impressed with a lively sense of the 
imperfection of ordinary language as a medium for 
the communication of philosophical ideas, and also 
of the amount of precious time that might be saved 

if the ideas of philosophy were expressed in a lan- 
10 



146 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

guage universally intelligible, Leibnitz was possessed 
his life long with the belief, that a philosophical 
language might be constructed which would express 
all kinds of abstract truth with the same precision 
and adequateness as the principles of arithmetic or 
algebra were denoted by figures and letters. For 
this purpose, characters, as expressive as those sup- 
posed to have been given to things by Adam, were 
to be invented, which should be the signs of those 
few primitive thoughts from which all others are 
more or less directly derived. Out of these charac- 
ters, formulas were to be constructed; and by means 
of these formulas, various relations between thoughts 
to be established, and inferences deduced, with the 
same freedom from error as by the processes of 
arithmetic or geometry. In the invention of these 
philosophical characters, however, Leibnitz never 
made any progress, though he appears to have 
thought it no difficult matter to devise them. But 
the thoughts which were to be expressed by these 
characters, he was ready enough to supply. These 
were, indeed, to be the principles of his own specu- 
lative system, which, with the self-confidence so 
characteristic of great original minds, he considered 
as containing the pure elements of truth, and worthy 
of being incorporated into the universal language of 
philosophy. 

Nor was this universal language to be applied 
only to the truths of philosophy. In the prosaic 
spirit of his times, Leibnitz imagined than an aes- 
thetical calculus, similar in principle to the philo- 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 147 

sophical, might be constructed, which would direct 
and assist the sons of genius in the composition of 
works of art. Thus music was defined by him as 
"an arithmetic of the soul, which knows not that it 
reckons;" and the high delights of painting and 
poetry were attributed to the perception, more or 
less distinct, of proportion and system. 

This splendid, but somewhat cabalistic project, 
ever remained a project merely in the head of its 
inventor; and it is only from obscure hints, gathered 
from his writings and letters at large, that we 
derive the means of forming any notion of its gen- 
eral character. There is no doubt, however, that 
Leibnitz himself entertained as high expectations of 
general utility from the realization of this phantom, 
which he chased through life, as he ever could have 
indulged in his youth from the discovery of the 
precious stone of alchymy. 

This visionary project for the improvement of 
science can hardly fail to remind us of the famous 
plan for extending Christianity by the conquest of 
Egypt, and especially as Leibnitz again had recourse 
to Louis XIV, as the proper patron of an undertak- 
ing fraught with so important benefits to mankind. 
Shortly after the peace of Nimuguen, he addressed 
to this monarch, who, crowned with victory, was 
then standing on the summit of his military career, 
two memorials, wherein the latter was solicited to 
interest himself in a general reform of science, by 
means of the proposed philosophical language ; and 
thus, in imitation of Alexander and Aristotle, of the 



148 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

emperor Justinian, of Leo, the philosopher, and of 
Almanzor or Mirandola, the great chief of the Arab- 
ians, to make his name conspicuous in the history 
of the peaceful and beneficent triumphs of letters. 
These memorials were entitled, the one, Preceptes 
pour avancer les sciences; the other, Discours tou~ 
chant la methode de la certitude et Vart d'inventer, 
pour finir les disputes et pour faire en peu de temps 
de grands pr ogres. Not without fears lest the 
prevalence of false views in science, and the con- 
stant strife of heterogeneous opinions, might bring 
about the return of the dark ages of ignorance, the 
writer proposed that the quintessence of the best 
books should be extracted, selections added from the 
observations and experiments of the ablest minds in 
every profession, and, thereby, a collection made, in 
forms convenient for use, of all the great truths 
which had been discovered in the progress of the 
race. A suggestion was also added respecting the 
advantages that might be expected to accrue to the 
interests of learning and humanity, if prizes were 
offered for discoveries in science and inventions in 
the arts, and also for the bringing to light of any 
valuable knowledge that might lie buried beneath 
the rubbish of literature. Whether these memorials 
ever reached the royal personage for whom they 
were designed, or what reception they met with, is 
not known. They may serve, however, as illustra- 
tions, if not of the practical good sense of Leibnitz^ 
at least of the constancy and ardor with which he 
labored for the improvement of science, and the best 
good of mankind. 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 149 

The expectations of Leibnitz were no less exag- 
gerated respecting the wonders to be accomplished 
by his projected philosophical language in the sphere 
of morals and religion. He considered it a means 
of preserving and extending the truths of Christianity 
inferior only to "the miracles of a holy apostle, or 
the victory of a great monarch." But without 
dwelling upon this vagary, we may take this oppor- 
tunity to give some account of the relation which 
Leibnitz personally sustained to religion and the 
church. 

The subject of the reunion of the Protestant and 
Catholic churches was one of the great topics of the 
latter part of the seventeenth century; and to the 
accomplishment of this important religious and polit- 
ical measure, in which Leibnitz began actively to 
interest himself some time before the death of John 
Frederic, he devoted more or less of his time for the 
space of twenty years. It was not for the satisfac- 
tion of any personal religious scruples, however, 
that Leibnitz took so zealous a part in attempting to 
restore the Protestants to the bosom of the mother 
church ; although, as we shall see, he was some- 
what favorably disposed to the Eomish communion, 
and was, accordingly, often solicited by his Catholic 
friends to place himself within the pale of certain 
salvation. He was inspired merely with the desire 
of effecting a realization of his speculative idea of a 
hierarchy, as developed in his writings on politics 
and natural law. Therefore it was that, with all 
his commendation of many of the Catholic institu- 



150 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

tions, and his reverence, even, for those of her 
dogmas which appeared to him susceptible of a 
philosophical interpretation, he nevertheless firmly 
resisted all solicitations to enrol himself among the 
spiritual subjects of the Eoman pontiff. 

The views of Leibnitz on this point cannot, 
perhaps, be better stated than in his own words, 
extracted from a letter, written in January, 1684, to 
his friend, Landgrave Ernest, of Hesse-Rheinfels. 
After having claimed to be spiritually, though not 
externally, a member of the holy Catholic commun- 
ion, and having acknowledged the divine right of 
the papal hierarchy, together with the dogma of the 
infallibility of the church in all those articles of faith 
esteemed necessary for salvation, he proceeds as 
follows : 

"To return to myself, then, I entertain certain 
philosophical opinions, the truth of which I think 
myself able to demonstrate, and which it would be 
utterly impossible for me, with my present constitu- 
tion of mind, to discredit, so long as I see no method 
of proving the contrary. These opinions, though to 
the best of my knowledge contradictory neither to 
Scripture, tradition, nor the decrees of any council, 
are, notwithstanding, disapproved and subjected to 
the censorship by certain theologians of the school, 
who imagine the opposite of them to be essential to 
an orthodox faith. 

"It may be replied, that I could escape this cen- 
sorship by silence. But this would not answer. 
For these principles are of great importance ; and in 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 151 

case I should wish to speak of the valuable discover- 
ies which I think I have made in the method of 
investigating truth, and of extending human knowl- 
edge, it would be necessary for me to lay these 
principles down as fundamental. It is true that had 
I been born in the Eomish church, I would have left 
it only when excommunicated, or when denied the 
privilege of the communion, as I might have been, 
on refusing to subscribe to certain traditionary opin- 
ions. Now, however, having been born and educat- 
ed without the pale of the Church of Rome, it would 
be neither sincere nor safe, I think, to apply for 
admission into it, — knowing as I do that this appli- 
cation would very likely be refused when my true 
sentiments should have been made known. One 
must constantly restrain himself and conceal his 
thoughts, or expose himself to a Turpius ejicitur, 
quam non admittitur hospes. This, to many per- 
sons, would be very vexatious; and, in my own 
case, it would entirely break up my peace of mind, 
— not to mention the civil dangers attendant on 
secession. True, it is possible that opinions con- 
demned by the monks, might be approved, or at 
least tolerated by many pious bishops and theologi- 
ans; but it is not safe to expose one to a perhaps. 
One must endeavor to learn the true state of the 
case beforehand." 

Not unlike the preceding, were the sentiments 
communicated in the following extract from a letter 
to the learned, but assuming and fanatical Madame 
Brinon, Secretary of the Abbess of Maubuisson: 



152 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

"You are right, Madame," he wrote in 1691, " in 
regarding me as a Catholic at heart. I am one 
openly even, for it is only obstinacy that makes the 
heretic; and of this, thank God, my conscience does 
not accuse me. The essence of Catholicism consists 
not in external communion with Eome, else would 
they who are wrongfully excommunicated cease to 
be Catholics contrary to their will and without their 
fault. The true and essential communion, which 
unites us to the body, of Christ, consists in love. 
All those, therefore, who are instrumental in uphold- 
ing schism, by unkindly throwing hindrances in the 
way of reconciliation, are themselves schismatics; 
while those persons, on the contrary, who are willing 
to do whatever they can in order to gain an entrance 
into the external communion, are, in fact, true Cath- 
olics." 

It is plain that the concessions made by Leibnitz, 
respecting the divine right of the papal supremacy 
and the excellence of many of the institutions and 
doctrines of the Eoman Catholic church, proceeded 
directly from his speculative idea of a hierarchy; 
and that the reunion of the Lutheran with the 
mother church was an historical postulate of his 
political system. On this account was it that the 
philosopher preferred an union on the basis of the 
Romish, rather than the Lutheran church; and that 
to accomplish this union, he was willing to look 
with an eye of indulgence upon some of the practical 
abuses of the Catholics, and to endeavor to show the 
compatibility of their dogmas with those of Protes- 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 153 

tant Christians; while, on the other hand, whenever 
the question of his personal conversion was raised, 
descending from the heights of speculation, he 
attacked, in his capacity as a dissenter, both the 
tenets and the practices of Romanism, and called for 
the positive proof of the dogmas whose mere possible 
truth he had before admitted, in his character as a 
philosopher. Leibnitz, it must be confessed, how- 
ever, did not always make a sufficiently broad dis- 
tinction between things so widely separated as ideal 
and historical Catholicism; nor will he entirely 
escape the charge of indecision in his theological 
views, from those who are more decided in their 
preference of either the invisible church of Christ, 
or of the visible communion of Rome. 

Besides his correspondence with the Landgrave 
of Hesse-Rheinfels, he also conferred on the subject 
of church union with the noted theologian and di- 
plomatist, Spinola, Bishop of Thina, in Croatia, who, 
in 1679, came as imperial ambassador to Hanover. 
He corresponded, likewise, on the same subject, 
with Huet, afterwards Bishop of Avranches, and 
with Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux, through the latter 
of whom he attempted, not altogether without suc- 
cess, to interest Louis XIV in favor of the proposed 
religious coalition. 

To these irenical negotiations an end was sud- 
denly put, in 1679, by the decease of the Duke of 
Hanover. The virtues of this estimable prince 
were, at the time, gratefully celebrated by Leibnitz 
in three different eulogies, one of which was in 



154 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

Latin, and another in French verse. In the Latin 
poem, Leibnitz showed himself no mean master of 
that species of composition, — not to mention the 
prophetic merit which, on the elevation of a Hano- 
verian prince to the throne of England, the author 
was not altogether disinclined to attribute to the 
concluding stanzas : 

"Et Superi major a par ant ; sed talia Parcas 
Noscere mortalem prohibent, vil dicere vatem." 

Though confirmed in office by the succeeding 
Duke, Ernest Augustus, Leibnitz seems to have 
thought it advisable, considering the uncertainty of 
princes' favors, to apply for the then vacant post of 
imperial librarian in Vienna. Whether he was 
unsuccessful in his application, oi* whether he finally 
preferred to remain in Hanover, is not known. 
From similar motives, he also, at about the same 
time, sought, through the intervention of Huygens, 
and his patron, the Duke of Chevreuse, to be ap- 
pointed a foreign member of the Royal Academy of 
Sciences in Paris. This honor, however, could not 
then be bestowed on him in conformity with the 
constitution of the Society, though it was granted a 
number of years afterwards upon the removal of the 
constitutional hindrance. 

The new Duke, Ernest Augustus, previous to his 
accession to the head of the Hanoverian government, 
had taken such an active part in the war against 
France, as to have gained the name of a brave gen- 
eral and a true patriot. It was with his approbation, 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 155 

therefore, when the Turks, attacking the eastern 
bulwark of European civilization, had laid seige to 
Vienna, that Leibnitz again resumed his pen, to 
warn his countrymen against the still greater dan- 
gers which threatened the safety of the German 
Empire, from the ambitious monarch of the West. 
At that time residing in the Hartz mountains, for 
the purpose of draining the ducal mines, Leibnitz 
wrote a very valuable political tract against Louis 
XIV, under the title of Mars Christianissimus, auc- 
tore Germano Gallo-Grceco, ou Apologie des Armes 
du Roy tres Chretien contre les Chretiens. The 
object of this pamphlet, which was translated into 
the German language, was to expose the aim and 
general scope of the French policy. To accomplish 
this object, the writer, under the form of irony, took 
the side of the friends of France in Germany, then 
called Gallo-Graecos ; and developed such a correct 
understanding of the great political movements of 
the times, as to give to his pamphlet no little histor- 
ical value, and to attract to it very general notice. 
The authorship of the Mars Christianissimus was 
never acknowledged, except to the Duke, with 
whose approbation it was published, although the 
writer occasionally took the liberty of referring to it 
in his correspondence, as to a work not unworthy of 
attention. 

After the tide of Moslem invasion had been 
turned back by the gallant interposition of John 
Sobieski, Louis XIV still continued his hostile 
demonstrations against the German empire, and 



156 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

finally compelled the emperor to accede to an inglo- 
rious truce of twenty years. Ernest Augustus long 
withheld his assent to a measure so dishonorable to 
the Germanic princes; but certain domestic and 
political circumstances finally made it the turning 
point of his course of foreign policy. Active nego- 
tiations, at this period, were going on between the 
courts of Hanover and Berlin, to effect a matrimonial 
union between the Electoral prince Frederic, and 
the only, as she was also the beautiful and intellect- 
ual, princess of Hanover, Sophia Charlotte, the 
pupil of Leibnitz. But the consent of the Elector of 
Brandenburg could be attained only by the accession 
of Ernest Augustus to the truce with France. The 
Duke accordingly yielded, and in the end even went 
so far as to exchange his alliance with the emperor 
for one with his former enemy, Louis XIV. Not 
that he broke off all friendly communication with 
the head of the German empire, for although a degree 
of coldness sprang up between the two powers, yet 
the strength of their mutual interests did not fail to 
preserve in secret a tolerably good understanding 
between them. The three young princes of Hano- 
ver, whose prospects in life had been somewhat 
obscured by the law of primogeniture, which Ernest 
Augustus, not without the counsel and assistance of 
Leibnitz, had recently introduced into the duchy, 
looked to the emperor for employment; and the 
Duke himself, having resolved to aspire after the 
honors of an Elector of the empire, found it necessa- 
ry to obtain, first of all, the consent of the court of 
Vienna. 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 157 

But while the rising fortunes of Hanover were 
fast eclipsing those of the other branches of the 
House of Brunswick, the subordinate princes of this 
family became still more intimately connected with 
the leading member of it; and Leibnitz, in conse- 
quence, found himself at this period in the central 
point of these related courts. The personal influ- 
ence of the philosopher in this circle of princely 
personages was very great. He early won the 
affection of the two Dukes of Wolfenbiittel, — was, at 
a later period, appointed chief director of their libra- 
ry, — and was esteemed not only as the ornament of 
their table whenever he came to "Wolfenbiittel, or to 
Brunswick, but also as a valuable counsellor in all 
matters pertaining to literature, science or religion. 
Both of these dignitaries were men of learning; and 
with one of them, Anthony Ullrich, the author of 
two romances of some merit, Leibnitz maintained 
for a long time an active correspondence. 

Nor may we here omit to mention the connection 
of Leibnitz with the excellent and accomplished 
Sophia, Duchess of Hanover. This lady, if inferior 
in extensive learning and in devotion to science, to 
her sister, the celebrated Princess Elizabeth, of 
Bohemia, excelled her far in brilliancy of intellect 
and in political insight. She wrote Latin with 
elegance, spoke and wrote most of the living lan- 
guages, and was a zealous student of philosophy. 
With Leibnitz, who was her guide in abstract and 
scientific studies, she entered into the warmest 
friendship, and corresponded with him whenever 



158 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

they were separated. In the letters of Leibnitz to 
her, pleasantry was usually mingled with earnest- 
ness; some of them contained, indeed, very detailed 
expositions of his metaphysical theories; others 
touched upon history, recent literature, coinage and 
natural history. Many of them, on account of their 
importance, were sent by the Duchess to her rela- 
tives in France, especially to the genial and strong- 
minded Duchess of Orleans, and also to various 
persons at different foreign courts. Though differing 
from her husband in religious views, — the Duchess 
belonging to the Reformed, and the Duke to the 
Lutheran church, — she resembled him in the liber- 
ality with which he tolerated opinions and practices 
in religion not agreeing with his own, as she did 
generally in the generosity of his sentiments, and 
the elevation of his ambition. 

In the society of the Duchess, Leibnitz often met 
the humane and liberal-minded, as well as learned, 
Molanus. These two scholars frequently came 
together in the morning, at the residence of their 
mutual friend, for the purpose of conversing with 
her on some interesting topic in philosophy. It 
generally fell to the lot of Leibnitz to pronounce 
judgment upon the views presented by Molanus on 
the one side, and the Duchess on the other; while 
at limes he himself received from his princely mis- 
tress no feeble assistance in the maintenance of his 
opinions. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Conference in Hanover respecting church union— Leibnitz's 
Systema TTieologicum — His correspondence with Pelisson, 
respecting the reunion of Protestants and Catholics— His letter 
to the Duchess Sophia, concerning the visions of Miss Von 
Asseburg— His religious toleration— Correspondence with Bos- 
suet, on church union— Leibnitz's proposal to unite all Protes- 
tant sects against the Catholics. 

The return of Spinola to the court of Hanover, in 
the year 1683, called the attention of Leibnitz once 
more to the subject of the reunion of the Protestants 
and the Roman Catholics. Having wasted no little 
time at Berlin in attempting to persuade the Elector 
of Brandenburg to accede to his irenical projects, 
the zealous Bishop of Thina, whose spirits were 
incapable of being depressed by failure, came to 
negotiate in favor of church union with the liberal- 
minded successor of John Frederic. Ernest Augus- 
tus, in fact, was, from political considerations, not 
disinclined to favor a measure which met not only 
with the approbation of the most intelligent theologi- 
ans of his dominions, but also with that of the 
emperor, w T hose assistance he was anxious to secure 
in his efforts to obtain the title of Elector. The 



160 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

concessions, too, proposed by Spinola to be made on 
the part of the Catholics, were very liberal. Taking 
Bossuet's celebrated Exposition de la Foi as the 
basis of his views, he proposed that the Protestants 
should unite themselves with the Church of Eome 
without giving up any thing essential, either in their 
faith or practice ; their clergy should retain the right 
of marriage ; the two parties should be called, the 
one, Old Catholic, and the other, New Catholic ; in 
token of their spiritual and fraternal union, they 
should, from time to time, commune with each other; 
the Protestants agreeing no longer to apply to the 
Pope the name of Antichrist, but to acknowledge 
him as the chief patriarch in Christendom; the Pope, 
on his part, should issue a bull, pronouncing the 
Protestants free from the sin of heresy; and espec- 
ially, the authority of the Council of Trent, with its 
anathemas, should be suspended until a future gen- 
eral council, composed of both parties, could be 
called to settle all points of disagreement. 

To confer with Spinola, the Duke appointed 
Molanus and several other theologians, who, strange 
to say, speedily agreed on the terms of reunion. 
These were substantially the same as those proposed 
by the Bishop of Thina, according to which, the 
Protestants should be admitted into the Eomish 
communion, and each party should tolerate the 
dogmas of the other, especially those respecting 
transubstantiation, until they could be harmonized 
by a future ecumenical council. As a result of the 
discussions of this conference, a tract was published 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 161 

in 1891, entitled Regulce circa Christianorum omni- 
um ecclesiasticum unionem, which was afterwards 
made the basis of similar negotiations in Hungary 
and in France. 

Leibnitz, it appears, hardly expected any practical 
issues from this effort of the friends of union. On 
the contrary, the character of Spinola, the posture of 
political affairs at that period, and especially the 
almost insurmountable obstacles which would be 
likely ever to stand in the way of the proposed 
council, seemed to him absolutely to forbid the 
indulgence of any but the feeblest expectations of 
success. He was of opinion that the only way of 
bringing together churches so far separated from 
each other, was, by mutually agreeing on some 
common principles of religious belief. Accordingly 
he proposed to the Duke to write such a treatise on 
the points of disagreement between the Protestants 
and the Catholics, as might furnish an exposition of 
doctrines to which the leading minds of both parties 
would assent. This, for the purpose of giving it 
greater effect, was to be so written as to appear to 
have emanated from the pen of a Catholic. This 
design, however, not meeting with the approbation 
of Ernest Augustus, was never carried into effect ; 
but long after the death of Leibnitz an imperfect 
sketch of such an exposition of the Romish doctrines 
was found among his papers, and published, as if 
expressing the real sentiments of the author, under 
the imposing title of Leibnitz's Systema Theologicum. 
This work, in fact, was very extensively regarded 
11 



162 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

as the writer's religious will and testament; and as 
such was translated no longer ago than the year 
1S19, into the French language, and soon afterwards 
republished in Germany also. 

Meanwhile, in 16S4, Spinola, provided with the 
treatise of the Hanoverian theologians, proceeded to 
Rome, where his views and propositions were re- 
ceived with great favor by Innocent XI, and the 
highest dignitaries of the church. But no practical 
result followed. And the same may be said of his 
efforts in the same cause afterwards made in Hun- 
gary; of those of his successor, the Count of Buck- 
heim, undertaken in 1698, in Hanover, and finally 
of those prosecuted by Leibnitz himself, in Vienna, 
whither, at the request of the emperor, he went in 
1700, to attend a conference on the subject of church 
union. 

Previously, however, to this visit to Vienna, 
Leibnitz, through the mediation of the learned and 
gifted Madame de Brinon, Secretary of the Abbess 
of Maubuisson, carried on, in the years 1691-2, a 
correspondence on the subject of the toleration of 
differences in religion with Pelisson, historiographer 
to Louis XIV. This author, who wrote not more 
elegantly on historical, than learnedly on theological 
subjects, had, in some of his writings, accused the 
Protestants of indifference to religion, on account of 
their disbelief in the infallibility of the church; and 
it was to the refutation of this charge that Leibnitz 
applied the principles of his peculiar system of phi- 
losophy in the letters which, together with those of 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 163 

his opponent, were afterwards published under the 
title of Lettres de Mr. Leibnitz et de Mr. Pelisson de 
la tolerance et des differens de la religion. 

This correspondence, the publication of which 
excited considerable attention in Europe, was con- 
ducted with great urbanity on both sides, although 
Leibnitz boldly denounced many of the errors and 
abuses of the Eomish church, and required their 
reformation as a necessary preliminary to the ac- 
ceptance of any terms of union on the part of the 
Protestants. Pelisson testified his regard for his 
correspondent by asking him for a brief sketch of 
his life and doctrines, — a favor which was willingly 
granted. It may be added, that in one of his letters, 
Leibnitz replied to a question respecting his views 
on the dogma of transubstantiation with more than 
usual explicitness. "I hold," he says, "to the 
Augsburg Confession, which supposes a real pres- 
ence of the body of Jesus Christ, and beholds in this 
sacrament something mysterious. This view ap- 
pears to be conformable to the opinions of antiquity, 
and to the words of the text, the natural sense of 
which we ought to preserve as far as possible." 

Not dissimilar in its principles and tendencies, 
and still more interesting, was the correspondence 
which took place between Leibnitz and the Duchess 
of Hanover, while the latter was spending some 
time, in the year 1691, in Ebsdorf. At this water- 
ing place there happened then to be residing a lady 
of the ancient and noble family of Asseburg, together 
with her three daughters. Herself a pious em 



164 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

ast, she had devoted one of these, Eosamund, even 
before birth, to the Saviour; and had, probably, at 
an early day, made the child acquainted with the 
solemn dedication. When still very young, Eosa- 
mund believed that Jesus was wont to appear to her 
in all his splendor, and make to her various kinds of 
revelations, of which, even before she was well able 
to write, she was accustomed to keep a record. 
This young maiden, at the time the Duchess was 
residing at Ebsdorf, was beginning to excite a good 
deal of attention by means of her supposed faculty 
of giving appropriate answers to questions laid before 
her in sealed letters, and written in foreign languag- 
es altogether unknown by her. These replies she, 
in common with many others, thought were com- 
municated to her by the Saviour. Sometimes, 
however, she was unsuccessful; and then she de- 
clared that Jesus would not always answer her, but 
only when it pleased him. On one occasion she 
was greatly grieved, and wept bitterly because, as 
she said, the Saviour was angry with her as he had 
never been before. This singular phenomenon, 
exciting the attention of the highest personages in 
the land, gave rise to very different opinions, and 
aroused the most violent passions of religious con- 
troversy. To the orthodox divines, the replies and 
sayings of Eosamund seemed to savor of heresy; to 
the more enlightened they appeared ridiculous; but 
both thought the foolish girl ought to be shut up in 
prison. Molanus drily remarked, that such expres- 
sions as, "my queen," "my little dove," which 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 165 

Rosamund pretended Jesus employed in addressing 
her, were not usual, so far as was known, in the 
communications of the celestials. 

To the Duchess, who requested the opinion of 
Leibnitz respecting- this miracle, as it was by many 
persons esteemed, he replied, in terms evincing a 
degree of philosophic liberality not very common in 
those days of narrow-mindedness and bigotry. 
"There are persons," he wrote, alluding to Molanus, 
"who treat the matter cavalierly, and believe that 
the young prophetesss should be dispatched straight- 
way to Pyrmont. For myself, I am clearly of 
opinion there is no supernatural agency in the affair; 
and that there must be some embellishment in the 
story of the English letter of Dr. Scott, to which, 
without opening it, she is said to have given an 
answer dictated by the Saviour. Meanwhile I am 
filled with astonishment at the nature of the human 
mind, of whose powers and capabilities we have no 
adequate conception. On meeting with persons 
like these, instead of rebuking and endeavoring to 
alter them, we ought much rather to desire to retain 
them in so exalted a state of mind, as one treasures 
up a curiosity or a cabinet-piece." Here the writer 
mentions the characteristic marks whereby dreams 
and visions may be distinguished from real percep- 
tions; and adds the remark, that men of vivid imag- 
ination, as is sometimes the case with young persons 
educated in cloisters, can call up apparitions before 
their mind's eye as distinct as the reality, and 
especially when the appearances have some connec- 



166 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

tion with things actually existing. " I often think," 
he continues, u that Ezekiel had studied the art of 
architecture, or was a court engineer, because he 
saw in his visions such magnificent edifices. But a 
prophet in the country, like Amos, beholds only 
landscapes or rural pictures; while the statesman 
Daniel gives rules, in his visions, to the monarchies 
of the world. This maiden whom your Highness 
has seen, may not, indeed, be compared with proph- 
ets like these; however, she believes she sees Jesus 
Christ before her eyes, because among Protestants 
there are no other saints to be seen. The burning 
love, which, fanned by the hearing of sermons and 
by private reading, she bears to the Saviour, has at 
length obtained for her the gracious gift of beholding 
his image or appearance. For why should I not 
call it a gift of grace? It does her only good, it 
renders her happy, it makes her the subject of the 
most beautiful sentiments." 

As the Dukes of Wolfe nbiittel and Celle were 
present with the Duchess Sophia in Ebsdorf, Leib- 
nitz took that opportunity to inculcate upon them 
the propriety of tolerating such religious sects, 
though erroneous, as were not likely to do any harm 
to the state. " The best course," he writes, " is to 
let these good people have their own way so long as 
they engage in nothing that may lead to practical 
consequences. I learn from history that sects have 
generally sprung up from too great oppression of 
those who entertained some peculiar opinion; and 
under pretence of preventing heresies, one has only 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 167 

established them. Generally such notions disappear 
of themselves when they have lost the charm of 
novelty; but when one makes a great noise about 
them, and undertakes to put them down by argument 
and persecution, it is the same as endeavoring to 
put out the fire with the bellows. Heresy is like a 
torch, which will become extinguished if left alone, 
but which is kept burning by violent motions to and 
fro. Sometimes, from fear of a dearth of heretics, 
the theologians do all they can to find them out; 
and in order to make the unbelievers immortal, they 
give them party names, as Chiliasts, Jansenists, 
Quietists and Pietists. Often one arrives at the 
honor of being a heresiarch before he knows it, as 
the deceased Payon, an able preacher in France, 
whose pupils and friends were treated by Mr. Jurieu 
and others as Payonists." In the same spirit of 
liberality, Leibnitz interested himself warmly in 
aiding the superintendent, Petersen, who had been 
deposed from office in consequence of proclaiming 
the approach of the reign of Christ, which he 
considered to be heralded by the prophecies of 
Rosamund von Asseburg. At a later period, also, 
Leibnitz interceded with the spiritual authorities at 
Vienna, in behalf of the Pietists, who were in 
danger of persecution from the bigoted partizans of 
Romanism. 

Not long after the termination of his correspond- 
ence with the duchess Sophia, and that before men- 
tioned with Pelisson, Leibnitz commenced one of 
still greater importance with the celebrated Bossuet, 



16S LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

bishop of Meaux. The subject of discussion was the 
same as that treated of in the letters between Leib- 
nitz and Pelisson, — the union of the Protestant and 
Eoman Catholic churches. The interest of Bossuet 
in this project was first awakened by Molanus, who 
sent to the former the preliminaries of a religious 
peace, as agreed upon by the Hanoverian conference, 
as well as some other communications pertaining to 
the same subject. But the latter at length gave 
place to Leibnitz. The ground taken by the French 
prelate with his German correspondents, was, that 
the course pursued by Spinola and the other mem- 
bers of the conference at Hanover, could never 
accomplish the end desired; that first to effect an 
union in form, as proposed by the Hanoverian 
theologians, and afterwards to endeavor to agree 
upon the terms of one in reality, was to invert the 
order of reason ; and that, disposed as the Catholic 
church might be to yield for the sake of peace many 
points comparatively unimportant in discipline, she 
nevertheless would never consent to surrender any 
of the cardinal points of her theological system. The 
sacrament of the supper might be administered in 
two different forms, to suit each party ; certain expli- 
cations of some of the Catholic dogmas might be 
made, rendering them more consonant with the 
creed of the Protestants ; but the Church of Eome 
could never so far depart from her dignity and from 
truth as to surrender a tittle of the doctrines estab- 
lished by her councils. Though firmly believing 
that these doctrines were the only true and possible 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 169 

foundation of the proposed union, Bossuet showed 
great moderation and liberality of mind in the treat- 
ment of all subordinate matters. Leibnitz, as we 
have before observed, w r as, at heart, not in favor of 
the course pursued by Spinola and Molanus, but 
saw, with Bossuet, the necessity "of coming to some 
agreement on doctrinal points, before instituting a 
formal union of the tw r o churches. He however w r as 
compelled, in this case, to advocate the sentiments of 
the court of Hanover, instead of his own. This 
circumstance made his position a false one, and was 
indeed fatal to the success of his argument. No 
matter how gallantly he might defend the principle 
of the Eeformation, no matter what unanswerable 
historical and theological objections he might urge 
against the Council of Trent, his opponent could 
notwithstanding calmly reply, — if you do not choose 
to return to the true church, you can remain where 
you are ; but if you do return, it can be only on such 
principles as she believes to be safe and orthodox. 
Not the principles of the Romish church, as such, 
therefore, not the acuteness and erudition of Bossuet, 
not his great personal and official influence, but the 
truer position assumed by him in the controversy 
was it, which gave him a decided logical and moral 
superiority over his antagonist. It was in vain that 
the German philosopher supported his false position 
with a splendor of learning and argumentation 
which secured for him a rank among the first 
Protestant theologians; he lost both his cause and 
his temper. 



170 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ 

Bossuet at length became so convinced that they 
could arrive at no practical result, that in 1694 he 
broke off the correspondence ; but five years after- 
wards, at the request of the Duke Anthony Ulrich, 
Leibnitz renewed it. The question upon which the 
dispute then turned, was, whether the Council of 
Trent had the right to introduce the Apocrypha into 
the canon, and consequently, to hurl its anathemas 
against the Protestants for rejecting it. On this 
subject Leibnitz reasoned with such force of argu- 
ment and such copiousness of learning as to elicit 
the admiration of even the biographer of his oppo- 
nent ; and having in his turn the best of the argu- 
ment, he in 1701 discontinued the correspondence. 

The spirit maintained in this controversy by Bos- 
suet, was highly creditable to his character as a 
Christian prelate. Confident of his well-chosen 
position, he wrote with candor and with calmness ; 
avoided alike the somewhat assuming and author- 
itative tone of Arnaud, and the courtly, flattering 
manner of Pelisson ; and, especially, abstained, as 
others had not done, from all attempts to gain a 
proselyte in the person of his distinguished corre- 
spondent. But this very firmness, seriousness, and 
manly reserve of the Bishop of Meaux served only 
the more to excite the temper of Leibnitz, though 
himself accustomed to make an imposing impression 
upon others by the philosophic repose and dignity of 
his bearing. Even at the outset, the latter became 
personal in his remarks, and indulged in very bitter 
observations, both against Bossuet and the church 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 171 

whose cause he advocated. Characters, indeed, like 
Leibnitz and Bossuet necessarily repel each other. 
The divine accused the philosopher of being ambi- 
tious of mingling in too many matters; he charged 
him with intruding into the domain of theology ; 
and when Leibnitz happened to write an epigram on 
the invention of bombs, Bossuet blamed him for 
aspiring to be a poet. On the other hand, the Ger- 
man imputed to the Frenchman a want of good 
temper (son humeur etoit un peu chagrin) ; he found 
fault with the asceticism which the French theolo- 
gians opposed to the cheerfulness and hilarity of 
men of the world, while the foulest corruption was 
known to reign at the French court, under the mask 
of piety; and when, in 1694, a violent controversy 
arose between the French ecclesiastics and players, 
on account of the proposition made by Father Caffa- 
ro to admit the latter to the sacraments, Leibnitz, 
taking side with the persecuted, came out against 
the party of the Bishop of Meaux with the following 
jeu d'esprit. 

Aux Docteurs Anticomediens. 

Severes Directeurs des hommes, 
Savez-vous, qu'au Siecle ou nous sommes, 
Un Moliere edifie autant, que vos lecjons? 
Le vice bien raillie n'est pas sans penitence, 
II faut pour reformer la France, 
La Comedie, ou les Dragons. 

Upon the conclusion of his correspondence with 
Bossuet, Leibnitz finally relinquished the project of 



172 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

effecting an union between the Protestants and the 
Catholics. The reason of this abandonment of a 
long-cherished purpose lay in the altered posture of 
the political affairs of Europe. The unjust and 
obstinate war waged by Louis XIV against the 
emperor, in 1688, had given to the Catholic king a 
dangerous ascendancy over the Protestant states of 
Germany ; while, at the same time, the revolution 
in England had opened to the house of Hanover the 
prospect of ascending the throne of Great Britain. 
Leibnitz, therefore, in harmony with the wishes of 
the Hanoverian court, ceased at the commencement 
of the eighteenth century to advocate the ecclesiasti- 
cal alliance of the north of Germany with the south 
of Europe ; and proposed in its stead the union of 
the different Protestant churches in Germany, Swit- 
zerland, Holland and England, against the Catholic 
powers of Europe, and especially against France. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Leibnitz engages to write the history of the house of Brunswick — 
Genealogies of German princes in the seventeenth century- 
Leibnitz's plan of a German historical society— He commences 
a journey to Italy— Proceeds by way of the Rhine to Vienna 
—His reception at the imperial court— Manifesto by him respect- 
ing the relations of the empire to the Turks and to Louis XIV 
— Leibnitz's occupations in Vienna— Excursion to the mines of 
Hungary— He proceeds to Venice— Narrow escape at sea— He 
arrives in Rome— His acquaintance with Roman literati— He 
visits the catacombs— His proposal of introducing the study of 
natural science into the cloisters— Jesuit missions to China — 
Chinese civilization— He goes to Naples, Florence, Bologna, 
Modena— His historical discoveries in Modena— He returns to 
Venice— Interesting letter on leaving Italy— Arrival at Hanover. 

But while thus occupied as a theologian in advo- 
cating the interests of his ducal master and of 
Protestantism in Germany, the attention of Leibnitz 
was called as early as the year 1686 to an under- 
taking of a purely literary character. This was the 
composition of an historical work on the genealogy 
of the house of Brunswick, — a labor designed to 
extend the reputation of this line of princes, and 
indirectly, also, to throw light upon the history of 
the German empire. 



174 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

The genealogy of princes passed in the age of 
Louis XIV for the most important branch of histor- 
ical investigation. The whole state was so concen- 
trated in the person of the ruler, and those intimate- 
ly connected with him, the legal rights of the people 
depended so much upon the private rights of the 
governing families, that these genealogies, besides 
the lustre conferred by them upon persons descended 
from a noble ancestry, possessed the highest political 
importance in relation to all inheritances of land and 
contracts respecting the acquisition of territory. But 
at the same time, no branch of history was so per- 
verted by the flatteries and falsehoods of historians. 
Most German princes, at that period, were well 
pleased to see their origin traced back, if not to 
Charlemagne, at least to the noble families of modern 
Italy ; and there were not wanting authors, w T ho, 
with affected erudition, pretended to prove the gene- 
alogical connection of some of the reigning families 
of Germany with the most illustrious patricians of 
ancient Rome. The learned rivalled each other in 
presenting to the great such genealogical deductions, 
in illuminated manuscripts, with the hope that their 
elegant flattery would be munificently rewarded. 
Thus Ernest Augustus once received a favor of this 
kind from a Dutch nobleman and prelate, which, 
profusely embellished with beautiful pictures, traced 
the ancestral line of the Duke back to the person of 
the Roman emperor Augustus, and thence down to 
the times of Romulus and Remus. This fantastic 
labor, however, could hardly satisfy the sound judg- 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 175 

ment of such a man as the Duke, though it appears 
to have served as a means of calling his attention to 
the origin of his family. He accordingly commis- 
sioned Leibnitz to inquire into the matter, who, far 
from seeking to rise by the low arts practised by 
other writers of genealogies, avowed the opinion that 
the house of Brunswick was not of Italian, but of 
German descent. To substantiate this view, he 
entered into a correspondence with the learned An- 
thony Magliabechi, librarian of the Grand Duke of 
Tuscany. In 1687, moreover, he was ordered by 
the Duke to set out upon a journey to various parts 
of Germany, and also to Italy, to collect information 
respecting the early history of the house of Bruns- 
wick. Thus was to be fulfilled the wish, ten years 
before vainly entertained, of visiting the cradle of 
modern science, the country of Galileo ; and that, 
too, not merely for the purpose of investigating a 
single question in history, but with various and 
important aims, that readily suggested themselves to 
a mind of such general interests. 

The history of Germany presented at that time a 
field which had been but little cultivated. A new 
interest in this matter, however, was then just spring- 
ing up; and, as was to have been expected, Leibnitz 
took the lead in the patriotic movement, encouraging 
it at various courts by his influence and counsel, and 
especially by connecting the theme on which he was 
himself engaged with the history of the empire. 
Shortly before commencing his journey to Italy, 
having been informed by Job Ludolf, the learned 



176 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

founder of the study of Ethiopian philology in 
Europe, respecting Paullini's project of a German 
historical society, Leibnitz zealously embraced the 
proposal, and at once framed a number of important 
rules for the regulation of such an institution. His 
plan was, that the society should be constructed on 
the same principles as the associations for the pro- 
motion of physical science. The leading maxim of 
Leibnitz, in the study of historical subjects, was well 
expressed by him in the following sentence, taken 
from one of his letters, written soon after he had 
commenced his history of the house of Brunswick : 
"Didici in mathematicis ingenio, in natura experi- 
mentis, in le gibus divinis humanisque auctoritate, in 
historia testimoniis nitendum esse." 

In the autumn of 1687, Leibnitz, well supplied by 
the Duke with letters of introduction, commenced 
his journey. His immediate destination was Vien- 
na, where, besides accomplishing his literary pur- 
poses, he was to execute several important private 
commissions for both the Duke and the Duchess. 
His route lay through Hessia, the middle Rhine, 
Franconia, Bavaria, and Bohemia; and in every 
place he explored diligently all the libraries, archives 
and ancient monuments. Every where, also, for 
the purpose of adding to his experience and his 
stores of knowledge, he sought out men of learning, 
and made inquiries respecting the existing institu- 
tions of society. Whatever was remarkable he 
noticed in his journal, a portion of which is still 
extant. In Marburg he visited Waldschmidt, an 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 177 

eminent mechanician and natural philosopher, who 
gratified him with a view of several interesting 
physiological experiments. He made a digression 
to Eheinfels, to see his friend, the Landgrave Ernest, 
who had often invited him to his little court, which, 
in comparison with that of Hanover, he called the 
court of the "king of Ivetot." The Landgrave dis- 
missed him, after a short stay, with a flattering letter 
of introduction to the Elector of the Palatinate, the 
same person for whom Leibnitz, years before, had 
written his Specimen demonstrationum politicarum. 
The secret of the authorship of this tract was not 
disclosed by Leibnitz on meeting with the Elector, 
though he might have done it with advantage. 

At length Leibnitz arrived at Frankfort, the place 
where he had won some of his earliest laurels. 
There, to his great satisfaction, he made personally 
the acquaintance of Job Ludolf, to whom he long 
continued to communicate, in the most confidential 
manner, not only his views and plans generally, but 
his private feelings and wishes also. He likewise 
met some of his former friends in this place ; and as 
the quantity of historical materials collected by him 
was rapidly increasing, he here procured a young 
scholar to accompany him to Vienna, for the pur- 
pose of making extracts from rare books and manu- 
scripts. Munich, with its numerous neighboring 
cloisters, supplied him with a rich booty ; and several 
weeks were spent in securing it. In Salzbach, 
Leibnitz made the acquaintance of the famous cabal- 
ist, Christian Knorr, with whom he engaged in 

12 



178 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

interesting conversations respecting the testimony 
furnished by the cabalistic Jews in favor of Chris- 
tianity. Knorr, among other things, showed him a 
work in manuscript, entitled Messias puer, which 
consisted of extracts from a life of Jesus, from the 
time of the annunciation until his baptism. Of 
Knorr, Leibnitz afterwards spoke to his friends in 
terms of the highest esteem. 

In May, 16S8, Leibnitz arrived in Vienna, where 
he met with a reception entirely worthy of his fame 
as a philosopher, and of his rank at the court of 
Hanover. The respectful manner in which he had 
always spoken in his writings of the emperor, pre- 
pared the way, notwithstanding he was a Protestant, 
and notwithstanding the alliance subsisting between 
Hanover and France, for him easily to gain the 
confidence of the chief minister of state. According- 
ly, not only were the treasures of the library gener- 
ously opened to his investigation, but he was placed 
in a situation favorable to the execution of his diplo- 
matic commissions, and even admitted to a know- 
ledge of some of the secrets of the imperial cabinet. 

At the time Leibnitz arrived in Vienna, the city 
was rejoicing over an event before unheard of in 
Christendom. This was the arrival in the tent of 
the emperor and his allies of an embassy from their 
ancient enemy, the Ottoman Porte, humbly sueing 
for a cessation of hostilities. And so high had the 
confidence of the allied powers arisen, in conse- 
quence of their victories at Moharz and Belgrade, 
and such was the confusion in the heart of the 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 179 

Turkish empire attendant upon the dethronement of 
Mohammed IV, that the friends of Christianity were 
then in doubt whether to comply with the request of 
the enemy, or to continue the war until they should 
have expelled the barbarians entirely from Europe. 
Leibnitz, notwithstanding he still cherished the 
project of a crusade against the Eastern infidels, and 
reverted to it in all his published writings of this 
period, was of opinion that the dangers which threat- 
ened the safety of the German empire from the 
ambition of Louis XIV, ought to deter the emperor 
from driving his Ottoman enemies to extremities; 
and in this view he was confirmed by the sugges- 
tions of his friend Ludolf, who during his whole life 
was possessed with the idea, — not unlike that for the 
realization of w T hich Leibnitz had undertaken his 
mission to the court of France, — of effecting an 
alliance between the Christian powers of Europe 
and the negroes of Abyssinia, for the purpose of 
expelling the Turks from Egypt. 

The project entertained by the emperor, however, 
was, in connection with Louis XIV, to drive the 
descendants of Mohammed back to their homes in 
the East, and to divide the conquered territories 
between the victors. This fact we learn from a 
manifesto, published several years afterwards by 
Leibnitz, in favor of the claims of the Archduke 
Charles to the throne of Spain. But it has never 
been mentioned by any other writer ; and we know 
not certainly whether the emperor's design was 
actually communicated to the French monarch, nor 



ISO LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

what part Leibnitz may have had in originating or 
advocating it. In conformity with this purpose, 
therefore, the Christian and allied powers refused to 
make peace with their Moslem enemies, and that 
even after the bursting on the western borders of the 
empire of the storm which Leibnitz some time before 
had anxiously anticipated. 

Louis XIV, in fact, openly declared war against 
the German empire, in the autumn of 16SS, and 
forthwith planted his victorious standards upon the 
banks of the Rhine. The excuse alleged for viola- 
ting the twenty years' truce, was, a design which it 
was pretended was entertained by the emperor of 
making peace with the Turks, and then invading 
France with all his forces. To this allegation the 
imperial manifesto replied with great spirit, showing 
that the pretences of Louis were entirely without 
foundation, and that they were an unwarrantable 
attack on both the character and the rights of 
Charles VI. The traces of the able pen of Leibnitz 
are so distinctly visible in this paper, that there can 
be no doubt of his having been the author of it. "It 
may be regarded," says a recent German historian 
of celebrity, " as a masterpiece of political eloquence 
upon the relations, external and internal, of the Ger- 
man empire, and after an oblivion of a hundred and 
fifty years, well deserves the attention of the nine- 
teenth century. " 

But while thus interested in the affairs of state, 
Leibnitz did not forget the immediate object of his 
visit to Vienna. He also rendered important assist- 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 181 

ance to the Hanoverian agent at the imperial court, 
who was engaged in advocating the claims of his 
master, in opposition to those of the Elector of Bran- 
denburg, to the possession of Friesland. At the 
request of the Duchess Sophia, Leibnitz also obtained 
from the government at Vienna the promotion of a 
prince of Hanover in the imperial army. Nor was 
the project of a German historical society lost sight 
of by the historian of the House of Brunswick, during 
his residence in Vienna. On the contrary, he 
warmly commended it to the attention of many per- 
sons of rank and learning, and even bespoke for it 
the patronage of the emperor. But in this, as in 
many other great plans for the promotion of science 
and civilization, Leibnitz was in advance of his age. 
The society, notwithstanding the zeal with which he 
advocated it, never went into actual operation, from 
want of a sufficiently strong common interest among 
its members. Some of his time, moreover, was 
devoted by Leibnitz to the service of his learned 
friends in various places. For Ludolf he procured 
a copy of a rabbinical codex in the Hebrew lan- 
guage ; and for Baluzius, the librarian of the French 
minister Colbert, he offered to transcribe with his 
own hand a Greek codex. This last being a very 
ancient manuscript, and one difficult of transcription 
on account of its antiquated abbreviations, Leibnitz 
said he could find no suitable person in Vienna to 
do the work for him, all studies except those of 
scholastic philosophy and practical jurisprudence 
being then sadly neglected in that city. He at the 



1S2 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

same time acknowledged that he himself, not having 
occasion often to make use of the Greek language, 
devoted but little attention to it. Before leaving 
Vienna, it may be further added, Leibnitz made an 
excursion to the imperial gold mines in Hungary, 
for the purpose of extending his knowledge of mining 
operations. 

At length, after a residence of almost nine months 
in Vienna, Leibnitz resumed his journey, though not 
until having first been abundantly supplied by his 
Viennese friends with letters of introduction to the 
courts, the statesmen and the literati of upper and 
middle Italy. His first stopping-place was Venice. 
What were the first impressions made by the beau- 
tiful queen of the Adriatic, or by the brilliant skies 
and happy life of Italy, upon the hyperborean philos- 
opher, is not known. We are merely informed that 
he made an excursion to the imperial quicksilver 
mines in Istria ; and that on leaving Venice he 
came near losing his life at sea. " From Venice," 
relates Eckhart, " he proceeded along the coast in a 
small bark, with no other passengers. But a severe 
storm overtook him; and, as he has often told me, 
the sailors, not supposing that he was acquainted 
with their language, began to debate in his presence 
the question whether they should throw him over- 
board, and take possession of his property. Without 
letting it be observed that he understood them, he 
took out a rosary he had with him, and pretended to 
say his prayers. But seeing this, one of the sailors, 
in opposition to the others, declared that as the man 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 183 

was no heretic, he could not have the heart to take 
his life. Accordingly he escaped, and disembarked 
at Mesola." 

Travelling slowly, and every where making 
inquiries and observations, he reached Rome in the 
month of October, at the commencement of the pon- 
tificate of Alexander VIII. His arrival was too late 
for him to see the distinguished pupil of Cartesius, 
queen Christina, of Sweden; but still it occurred 
before the enthusiasm for science which she had 
awakened among the Romans had entirely subsided. 
The fame of the German philosopher had preceded 
him to Rome ; and not only did he obtain free access 
to the treasures of science and art contained in the 
eternal city; but the most eminent literati, both 
native and foreign, voluntarily paid their respects 
and offered their services to him. With some of 
these, indeed, he was already acquainted, through 
the medium of letters. Among the high dignitaries 
of the church to whom he had access, may be men- 
tioned the eminent cardinal von Bouillon, ambassa- 
dor of Louis XIV, in whose house he had the pleas- 
ure of hearing the opera Amadis. By Francesco 
Nazari, a noted mathematician, and publisher of the 
Giornale di litterati, he was introduced to Adrian 
Auzulus, one of the founders of the Royal Academy 
of Sciences at Paris, and who was engaged with 
Nazari in investigations in natural philosophy. Both 
of these scholars Leibnitz often met with during his 
residence in Rome. Through them he also made 
the acquaintance of Giampini, founder of waAcademia 



184 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

jisico-matkematica, in which were numbered many 
of the most illustrious living names of Roman 
science. Introduced into this fraternity of scholars, 
and received by them as a member, Leibnitz was 
most favorably impressed by the fine humanity and 
the vigorous labors of these new friends, and espe- 
cially by the munificence of the founder of the asso- 
ciation, displayed in the purchase of valuable instru- 
ments. On the other hand, the learning and socia- 
bility of Leibnitz endeared him to the Academy; 
and long after his departure from Eome, his name 
was kindly remembered in this scientific circle. In 
fact, there was in Eome no society of literati, 
whether assembling in palace, library or cofFee-room, 
and whether devoted to theology, literature or anti- 
quities, into which Leibnitz was not admitted, either 
as a member or a guest. The admiration and 
friendly regard which was here entertained for him, 
appears also from the fact that he was offered the 
office of an overseer of the Vatican library. This 
offer, however, being coupled with the condition that 
he should enter the Romish church, he was, of 
course, obliged to decline it; and notwithstanding, 
as he afterwards said, the situation was but a step- 
ping-stone to the rank of a cardinal. 

The famous antiquarian, Raphael Fabretti, secre- 
tary of Alexander VIII, took great pleasure in show- 
ing Leibnitz all the renowned antiquities of the city; 
and among other places, took him to the Catacombs. 
"And as Leibnitz would not believe that a certain 
red substance, which was to be seen in bowls and 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 185 

bottles that stood upon many of the graves, was con- 
gealed blood, but rather held it to be earth or dust of 
that color, Fabretti, in order to remove his incredu- 
lity, poured warm water into one of the bowls, the 
contents of which soon revealed themselves in the 
form of real blood. Thereupon it lacked little but 
that Leibnitz would have been convinced, and have 
gone from the tombs of the martyrs solemnly im- 
pressed and edified." At least, so says our Italian 
informant. 

This willingness, in matters of little importance, to 
believe in Rome as did the Romans, may at least 
have produced this good effect, that it secured for 
the Protestant philosopher the good-will of those 
with whom he was connected, and thus gave him 
the power of communicating important but unpalata- 
ble truths without offence. Accordingly he urged 
the astronomer, Bianchini, as well as other mathe- 
maticians in Rome, and, later, the eminent geome- 
trician, Viviani, in Florence, to attempt to persuade 
the new pope to put an end to the tyrannical opposi- 
tion of certain religious zealots to modern astronomy, 
and to allow greater freedom of scientific investiga- 
tion. Leibnitz went farther. He earnestly sought 
to gain over the Italian literati to a project which 
had recently occurred to him, of introducing the 
study of natural science into the cloisters. Great 
progress in knowledge was anticipated by him, in 
case so many minds could be made to consider the 
study of the works of God as an act of piety, and 
thus be induced to devote to useful scientific pursuits 



186 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

the hours commonly spent in indolence and in 
dreams. Two or three years later, also, on the 
occasion of a dispute between two Eomanists respect- 
ing the propriety of banishing all studies whatsoever 
from the cloisters, Leibnitz wrote an earnest letter to 
Magliabechi on the subject. "What," he asked, "is 
more consonant with piety than the contemplation of 
the wonderful works of God and Providence, as they 
appear in nature, also in history, in the government 
of the church and of the human race ? To deny 
these studies to piety, is the same as taking from it 
its natural nourishment, and leaving it merely the 
dry meditations from which the unsatisfied soul 
readily passes to abstract and empty speculations, 
and at last runs the risk of falling into most danger- 
ous illusions." 

Among the persons at Rome whose conversation 
Leibnitz found most agreeable and instructive, was 
the Jesuit father, Claudius Philip Grimaldi, then 
preparing to go to China to act as mandarin and 
president of a mathematical society under the learned 
emperor, Cham-Hi. The seventeenth century, lis- 
tening to the exaggerated reports of the Jesuit mis- 
sionaries to the East, entertained an extravagant 
notion of the state of Chinese art and science. The 
condition, however, of this remarkable people was 
well calculated to awaken the interest of the age of 
Louis XIV; and Leibnitz, when a young man, 
formed such magnificent conceptions of this remote 
empire, as to call it, in his first memorial to the 
French king, the France of the East. His inter- 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 1S7 

course with Grimaldi tended to confirm his youthful 
views of this foreign civilization. He was inclined 
to the opinion that the Chinese had formerly been 
in possession of profound systems of philosophy and 
theology, which in his time were concealed in sym- 
bols no longer understood by the Chinese themselves. 
In co-operation with the Jesuits, he also endeavored 
to defend the modern religious doctrines of these 
Asiatics from the charges, then made against them, 
of materialism and atheism. It was about this time, 
likewise, that Leibnitz invented the Dyadik, or 
reckoning with zero and unity, whereby he thought 
to furnish an expressive symbol of the Christian doc- 
trine of the creation of the v/orld out of nothing. 
And a description of this invention was sent to 
Grimaldi in China, with the hope that the mathe- 
matical monarch of that heathen realm might see, in 
this illustration of the mystery of the creation, a 
convincing proof of the excellence of the Christian 
religion and philosophy. The author of this new 
arithmetic farther supposed that this invention would 
serve as a key to the secrets of Fohi, the founder of 
the Chinese empire. These were written in the 
book Yekin, in twenty-four hieroglyphical characters, 
which, being connected with the doctrine of combi- 
nations, presented no slight attractions to the Ger- 
man mathematician. 

It must not be supposed, however, that Leibnitz 
formed any other than moderate notions respecting 
the existing condition of science and culture in 
China. He considered the scholars of that country 



1SS LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

as far behind those of Europe, in the theoretical 
sciences Jn astronomy, geometry, and the art of war; 
and it was probably from vexation on account of the 
general disorder and immorality by which he was 
surrounded, that in some of his writings he suggest- 
ed that while the European Christians were estab- 
lishing missions in China, to teach the children of 
the sun the truths of revelation, the Chinese, in turn, 
should send missionaries to Europe, to teach their 
western brethren the true doctrines and practice of 
natural religion. Leibnitz, however, was very solic- 
itous to ascertain the real £tate of Oriental learning, 
and therefore became so much interested in the 
Chinese mission of the Jesuits, as to engage zealous- 
ly in their defence against the envy and hatred of 
the other orders of the Romish priesthood. But at 
the same time, he confessed that many members of 
the society of which he appeared as the apologist, 
were too violent in their character, and some were 
ready to serve their order through both right and 
wrong. Moreover, while advocating the cause of 
the Jesuit missionaries, he took no little pains to 
induce the Protestant churches in Prussia and Eng- 
land to establish evangelical missions in China. It 
is true that several members of the Order of Jesus, 
not appreciating the high philosophical position 
occupied by their defender, presumed to address him 
on the subject of his personal conversion to Roman- 
ism ; but Leibnitz, in his reply, gave them to under- 
stand that he had no thoughts of changing his 
religion, and that if he favored the Jesuit missions 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 189 

to China, it was because he considered the know- 
ledge of a corrupt form of Christianity better than no 
acquaintance with it at all. 

It was not merely from religious considerations, it 
may be added, that Leibnitz interested himself in the 
cause of Chinese missions. On his first acquaint- 
ance with Grimaldi, he had devised the plan of 
forming an epistolary connection with the Catholic 
missionaries in China and India, for the purpose of 
collecting information respecting the countries, in- 
habitants and languages of Upper Asia, about which 
little was at that time known by Europeans. He 
also requested his friends in different parts of Ger- 
many, particularly Ludolf, to prepare questions 
respecting matters of scientific interest, that he might 
obtain through his correspondents in the East the 
greatest variety of curious and valuable facts. In 
turn, Leibnitz procured for Grimaldi letters of intro- 
duction from the King of Poland to the Shah of 
Persia ; and also labored, though without effect, to 
persuade the eccentric sinologist, Andrew Miiller, 
of Berlin, to publish a Clavis Sinica for the benefit 
of the Jesuit father. 

Before leaving Rome, Leibnitz, as we learn from 
a passing allusion in one of his letters, made a short 
excursion to Naples; and, on his return, having 
spent in all but a single month in the eternal city, 
he set off for Florence. Except the attendance of 
Leibnitz at a private opera given in the palace of the 
French ambassador, we have no information from 
which it appears that he devoted any portion of this 



190 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

short month to the study of the beautiful arts of the 
modern, or the impressive ruins of the ancient, me- 
tropolis. Deeply absorbed as he was in the acquisi- 
tion of information for his great historical work, as 
well as in the promotion of the cause of science and 
piety, not only in Italy, but even to the regions of 
the remotest East, it is probable that the northern 
philosopher gave little heed either to the beautiful 
canvass of Kaphael and Michael Angelo, to the 
immortal relics of the Grecian chisel, or to the moul- 
dering monuments of ancient Eoman magnificence. 

At Florence he was very graciously received by 
the Grand Duke and the princes of the court, espec- 
ially by the learned mathematician, Prince Gasto. 
The latter, about three years afterwards, did Leib- 
nitz the honor to send him for solution a problem 
(Constructio testudinis quadrabilis hemisphcericce) , 
which was originated by the geometrician Viviani, 
the last pupil of Galileo, and which Leibnitz solved 
the same day he received it in a variety of ways, by 
means of the differential calculus. Leibnitz also 
made the acquaintance of Viviani himself, as well as 
that of the excellent mathematician and learned 
scholar, the Abbot Bodenus, Baron of Bodenhausen. 
But the most cordial reception he received from his 
friend Magliabechi, who, as librarian, rendered him 
valuable assistance in his historical and antiquarian 
researches. His gratitude for this service was 
expressed by Leibnitz in a short Latin poem, 
entitled Elegia ad Magliabechum, wherein, as his 
friend lived surrounded by his books, and was 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 191 

backward in publishing the results of his labors, the 
poet addressed to him the following appeal: 

" Quid jurat, immensas librorum condere moles, 
Queis tua Pyramidas provocat arcta domus 1 

Omnia quid legisse juvat, tibi si legis unil 
Et paucis viva est bibliotheca domi ? 

Incipe jam tandem diffundere flumina mentis, 
Incipe doctrinae spargere grandis opes ! " 

Provided by Magliabechi with letters to the most 
distinguished literati of northern Italy, Leibnitz 
continued his journey to Bologna. Here he became 
acquainted with the chemist and mathematician, 
Domenico Guilielmini, who afterwards testified his 
respect for the German savant by selecting him as 
umpire in a dispute between himself and Professor 
Papin, of Marburg, respecting a new method invented 
by the former for obtaining the measure of running 
water. Guilielmini introduced Leibnitz to the 
eminent anatomist Walphighi, with whom "he 
spent many hours in pleasing and profitable con- 
versation." 

At length, towards the end of the year 1689, our 
traveller reached Modena, the proper goal of his 
journey. Among the antiquarian treasures in the 
archives, which were freely opened to him, he found 
unquestionable evidence of a connection between the 
houses of Brunswick and Este, — a connection 
which, though asserted by such historians as Faleti 
and Pigna, was rather obscured than proved by 
them. This fact he also found to be confirmed by 



192 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

the inscriptions on the monuments of the ancient 
Margraves of Este, and their common progenitor 
Azo. Besides communicating his discovery to Ma- 
billon, the father of modern diplomacy, he also made 
it known to the Duke of Hanover. To the Duchess 
he at the same time intimated the hope of being 
successful in the negotiation which had been entrust- 
ed to him, of endeavoring to effect a matrimonial 
alliance between the Duke of Modena, and one of 
the daughters of the late Duke of Hanover. The 
predecessor of Leibnitz had failed in making any 
progress in this matter ; but his own labors appear, 
if we may judge from the result, to have been more 
effectual. Circumstances, however, prevented the 
union from being consummated until five years 
afterwards. The happy event was celebrated by 
Leibnitz by the publication of an account of his 
genealogical discovery made at Modena, entitled, 
Lettre sur la connexion ancienne des maisons de 
Brunswic et d'Este ; and also by the composition of 
an essay, circulated in manuscript under the title of 
Quelques remarques sur la famille^ parente et alli- 
ance de Madame la Princesse Charlotte, maintenant 
Duchesse de Modene. These papers were also after- 
wards used by him in a negotiation in which he was 
successfully engaged for the purpose of forming a 
matrimonial union between Joseph, afterwards em- 
peror Joseph I, and another Hanoverian princess. 

During a residence of two months at Modena, 
Leibnitz became acquainted with the learned physi- 
cian, Ramazzini ; and as two years later, the latter 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 193 

sent to his German friend his very valuable medical 
work, entitled, Annals of Lomlardy, Leibnitz very 
earnestly recommended it to the attention of the 
physicians of Germany. At the same time he pro- 
posed that they should transmit annually an account 
of their observations to the president of the society 
of naturalists at Vienna, to be appended to the jour- 
nals of the society. 

The last few weeks of Leibnitz's Italian journey 
were spent in Venice, where matters of business 
appear to have occupied his attention. A Venetian 
nobleman, Andreini, introduced him to several pa- 
tricians of learning, among whom were Foscarini, to 
whom had been entrusted the continuation of the 
history of the republic, the Senator Girolano Corra- 
ro, a connoisseur in coins, and Dandolo, author of a 
valuable work on Turkish literature. From the 
letters of Leibnitz to Magliabechi, we learn that the 
former did not find in this opulent republic much 
which was new and remarkable, either in literature 
or science. He made numerous observations, how- 
ever, on natural phenomena, examined the lagunes, 
and paid a visit to the mines of Illyria. Opportu- 
nity was also found to undertake several excursions 
to different cities in upper Italy. At Padua, becom- 
ing acquainted with a gifted young professor of 
medicine and astronomy, he encouraged him, in 
imitation of the example of the famous Borelli, to 
apply the principles of mathematics to the art of 
healing. 

13 



194 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

Finally, mention must not be omitted of the inter- 
esting letter written by Leibnitz, a few days before 
leaving Italy, to Anthony Arnaud, wherein the 
writer shows, that amid all the distractions of the 
Italian journey, he did not fail to recur with pleas- 
ure to the contemplation of the high themes of phi- 
losophy. The whole epistle breathes an inward 
content, and an exhilarating freshness of thought 
and feeling, which indicate a mind kept serene by 
philosophic meditation, — one neither jaded by the 
fatigues of travel, nor dissipated by the excitement 
of foreign novelties. "As this journey," he writes, 
" has served to free me in part from my ordinary 
occupations, and to furnish my mind with recreation, 
so have I had the satisfaction of engaging in conver- 
sation with many gifted persons respecting science 
and learning ; and to some I have communicated my 
peculiar views, with which you are acquainted, in 
order to learn something from their doubts and 
difficulties. Many of these persons being dissatis- 
fied with the commonly received philosophy, have 
found in some of my doctrines extraordinary satis- 
faction." 

Turning aside to Vienna, for the purpose of exe- 
cuting some commissions there for the Duke, Ernest 
Augustus, Leibnitz, after an absence of nearly two 
years and a half, returned again to Hanover. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Leibnitz is occupied with affairs of state — He is made privy coun- 
sellor of justice — The multiplicity of his labors — His historical 
collections — His philological investigations— Improvement of 
the German language— His German style -Death of the Elector, 
Ernest Augustus. 

On his return from Italy, Leibnitz was obliged to 
postpone the examination and arrangement of the 
historical treasures he had brought with him, until 
after having given his attention to some urgent 
affairs of state. These concerned particularly the 
attempt of the Duke of Hanover to attain to the rank 
and honors of an Elector of the German empire, — 
an endeavor in which he was warmly opposed, from 
a variety of personal, religious and political motives, 
by several princes, both Protestant and Catholic. 
In this struggle to elevate the dignity of the Hano- 
verian family, Ernest Augustus received very able 
assistance from Leibnitz, who wrote many valuable 
papers, both historical and legal, in favor of the 
claims of his master, and who, in the course of his 
negotiations with various diplomatic agents, found 
occasion to enlist on his side the influence of his 



196 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

former pupil, the Baron von Boineburg, at that time 
residing at Vienna as first chamberlain of the em- 
peror. The efforts of Leibnitz were not in vain; 
and after a severe contest of several years' duration, 
the Duke finally obtained the object of his ambition. 

Somewhat less successful was Leibnitz in a petty 
dispute into which he was led in connection with 
the one preceding, respecting the rival pretensions 
of the Dukes of Hanover and Wiirtemburg to be the 
bearer of the standard of the empire. Though a 
mere question about forms and ceremonies, the 
philosophic diplomatist did not fail, by connecting it 
with general views of German history, and by bring- 
ing to the solution of it the most exact and profound 
erudition, to imprint upon the discussion the seal of 
his transcendent genius. 

In recognition of the services of Leibnitz in 
increasing the power and importance of his house, 
the new Elector, in 1696, appointed him to the 
office of privy counsellor of justice, which, in con- 
sequence of the abolition of the chancellorship, was 
the highest judicial office in the country, next to that 
of vice-chancellor. When, however, some years 
later, the vice-chancellorship was vacated by the 
death of the former incumbent, Leibnitz was ambi- 
tious of being promoted to this rank, also; but not- 
withstanding both the Electoress Sophia and her 
daughter, the queen of Prussia, seconded his appli- 
cation, it was rejected by the Elector, George Lewis, 
who was resolved on abolishing the office. At the 
same time, Leibnitz applied, with no better success, 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 197 

for the provostship of Ilefeld, alleging, in favor of 
the appointment, that he hoped to be serviceable in 
improving the educational establishments of that 
place. On this occasion, the Electoress Sophia, 
though always willing to serve her friend, could not 
refrain from expressing her surprise to Leibnitz, that 
he should wish to occupy a station which would 
bring with it so much and so disagreeable drudgery. 
His real motives in seeking the situation are not 
known. 

But after the return of Leibnitz from Italy, no 
burden rested so heavily upon his shoulders as the 
history of the House of Brunswick, the writing of 
which thenceforward became the great labor of his 
life. The first plan of this work was laid in 1692, 
before the Elector, who gave it his approbation. 
But from the plan to its execution, the road was 
long and toilsome ; and, most plainly, Leibnitz, who 
dwelled in the infinite world of ideas, and could not 
bear to give up any of his great projects for the 
advancement of science, was not the man to compile 
a voluminous work of historical details. He ac- 
cordingly made but slow progress. What more, 
indeed, could have been expected, considering the 
multiplicity of his pursuits ? "I cannot describe to 
you," he wrote, under date of September 5, 1695, to 
Vincent Placcius, the philologist, " how distracted a 
life I am leading. I search for different things in 
the archives, and look over old papers and MSS. 
never printed, hoping to get some light respecting 
the history of the House of Brunswick. Letters I 



198 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

receive and answer in great numbers. But I have 
so much that is new in the mathematics, so many- 
thoughts in philosophy, so numerous literary obser- 
vations of other kinds, which I do not wish to lose, 
that I am often at a loss what to do first, and feel 
the truth of Ovid's exclamation, Inopem me copia 
fecit. Twenty years and more is it since the 
French and English saw my reckoning machine. . . 
Since that time, Oldenburg, Huygens and Arnaud 
have besought me to publish a description of this 
work; but I have always deferred it, because at first 
I had only a small model, sufficient for the purpose 
of demonstration to mechanics, though not for use. 
Now, however, with help of laborers whom I have 
had with me, the machine is so far completed that 
multiplication can be performed as far as with twelve 
figures. It is a year since I progressed so far ; but 
the workmen are still here, engaged in manufactur- 
ing a number of these machines, to supply the orders 
for them in different places. I could gladly give a 
description of the invention, but there is no time for 
it." 

" I am anxious, before all things, to finish my 
dynamics, wherein I think I have revealed the true 
laws of matter, by means of which problems may be 
solved respecting the motion of bodies, to which the 
ordinary rules are inadequate. My friends who are 
acquainted with the higher geometry which I have 
founded, urge me to publish my science of infinites, 
which contains the fundamental principles of my 
new analysis. To this is to be added a new Char- 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 199 

acteristica situs, on which I am engaged, as well as 
things of a still more universal character, respecting 
the art of invention. But all these labors, except 
the historical, are prosecuted as it were by stealth. 
For you know at courts very different things are 
sought and expected. Accordingly, I am obliged 
from time to time to treat of questions involving the 
rights of the people, or of the princes of the empire, 
especially those of my master. So much, however, 
have I obtained from princely favor, as to be excused, 
to a good degree, from all attention to private pro- 
cesses. I will take care that you receive the essay 
I wrote, by order, upon the standard of the empire ; 
please give me your opinion of it. Meanwhile, I 
am obliged often to treat with the bishops of Neu- 
stadt and Meaux, with Pelisson and others, upon 
the subject of church union. Nor are these writings 
of mine despised by the most distinguished theolo- 
gians. The letters and papers which this religious 
controversy has obliged me to write could hardly be 
enumerated. So much, by way of excusing my 
promised meditations on your work : Accessiones ad 
ethicam et jus Natures. I am, however, taking the 
trouble, with the help of a young assistant, to bring 
my legal reflections into some order, which I would 
gladly submit to your judgment." Leibnitz, indeed, 
assisted by two jurists, resumed at this period his 
youthful labor of revising the German Corpus juris. 
Of these efforts the results were never published, but 
are probably preserved among the papers of one of 
these associates, in some of the public libraries of 
Germany. 



200 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

But the preceding- letter does not give an account 
of all the occupations of Leibnitz at this period. As 
we learn from a letter to Magliabechi, he had been 
projecting the plan of a Theodicea; his reflections 
and observations upon external nature, also, in com- 
pliance with the solicitations made to him from 
England and France, he had thought of completing; 
he had been busy in contriving various kinds of 
novel machines ; and, finally, had made new discov- 
eries in mathematical and metaphysical science. 
11 Considering all this," he concludes his letter by 
saying, "I trust that you will excuse my delay in 
writing to you ; and will furthermore wish me the 
assistance of young persons or other friends pos- 
sessed of learning, acuteness and diligence, that I 
may make greater progress. For I can suggest 
much to others, but cannot alone execute all that 
occurs to me ; and I would gladly give to others the 
fame of many of my inventions, if only the public 
welfare, the good of the race and the glory of God 
might thereby be promoted." 

With all these employments, together with fre- 
quent journeys to the different neighboring courts, 
and the ill-health, besides, with which towards the 
close of the seventeenth century he began to be 
afflicted, it is almost matter of wonder that Leibnitz 
was able to accomplish so much as he did, in the 
departments of law and history. 

Of the historical compilations made by Leibnitz 
as historiographer of the court of Hanover, one of 
the most important was his Codex juris gentium 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 201 

diplomat icus. This work consisted of one volume 
published in 1693, and a supplement seven years 
afterwards, under the title of Mantissa codicis juris 
gentium diplomatici. Numerous requests were 
made to the author, not only from different parts of 
Germany, but also from England, Scandinavia, 
France and Italy, that he would extend the work, as 
originally contemplated, to three volumes ; and in 
the preface to the Mantissa, he boasted that what he 
had published had served to convince the potentates 
of Europe of the importance of bringing to light the 
historical documents that had been secreted for ages 
in the obscurity of their archives. But Leibnitz 
wished to set an example merely, in this department 
of historical labor. To a friend who desired him to 
make similar compilations at the other European 
courts, he replied, " God forbid. I have no wish to 
become a transcriber. In this matter you will by no 
means find in me the bias usually attributed to the 
Germans. And do you not think, my dear sir, that 
the advice you give me is like proposing to your 
friend to marry an ill-tempered woman ? For to set 
a man about a task which will occupy him through 
his whole life, is the same as marrying him." It 
may be added, that Leibnitz composed, probably 
about this period, a patriotic essay, entitled, "A pro- 
posal for the appointment of at least one person in 
Germany, to investigate the jura Imperii ex arckivis, 
kistoriis, documentisque, for the purpose of bringing 
the same to light, or of keeping a watchful eye upon 
their preservation." 



202 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

Another historical collection, published by Leib- 
nitz in 169S, in two volumes, bore the title of Acces- 
siones historiccc, and contained many valuable mate- 
rials which had been overlooked by preceding com- 
pilers. A collection still more comprehensive was 
made public between the years 1707-11, under the 
name of Scriptores rerum Brunsvicensium illustra- 
tioni inservientes. This work pointed out the orig- 
inal sources, not only of the particular history of the 
House of Brunswick, but also, to a considerable 
extent, of the general history of Christian Europe, 
during the middle ages. No less than one hundred 
and fifty-seven original authorities for the history of 
the mediaeval period preceding the Protestant reform- 
ation were mentioned ; and critical and biographical 
notices given of every author. 

Besides these compilations, Leibnitz, towards the 
evening of his life, either himself published, or in 
some way introduced to the public, a great number 
of smaller treatises, pertaining to the subject of his- 
tory ; and it may easily be conceived, therefore, that 
all these historical labors must have occupied the 
best portion of the later years of his life. He would 
probably have lived to see the publication of his 
Annates rerum Brunsvicensium, had he not adopted 
a too comprehensive plan ; and had he not also 
aimed to investigate so thoroughly the ultimate 
grounds and philosophical connections of every event 
within the range of his history. For after his return 
from Italy, he resolved on nothing less than to write 
a full and philosophical history of the House of 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 203 

Brunswick, from the earliest time up to the admin- 
istration of the Elector Ernest Augustus. 

At the same time Leibnitz was engaged in these 
historical researches, he also devoted some portion 
of his leisure to the investigation of the origin and 
connection of languages. In this latter field of in- 
quiry, his labors cannot fail to excite admiration, not 
only on account of the scientific tact which guided 
him in his combinations, but also the unbounded 
extent of his researches, stretching in fact over the 
universal history of the human race. As has been 
before mentioned, he spent some considerable time 
on his project of an universal philosophical language; 
and later in life, etymology became w r ith him a 
means of playful recreation. Thus in one of his 
letters to Job Ludolf, he filled whole pages with 
etymological remarks, equally sportive and profound, 
on the words cuckold and coward (Hahnrei, Baren- 
hauter). Still more instructive were the applica- 
tions of his linguistic learning to the subjects of the 
origin of the different human races, and of their 
historical and geographical relations to each other. 
Looking upon the languages of the various tribes as 
the principal documents in inquiries of this sort, he 
pointed out two methods of procedure, — one the 
collecting together the greatest possible amount of 
information respecting the languages themselves; 
and the other, the application to them of scientific 
principles of etymology. In the first direction, the 
activity of Leibnitz was almost without limits. 
Missionaries, travellers, ambassadors and kings were 



204 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

taxed, to enable him to carry his inquiries into the 
most distant regions of the globe, especially into 
Asia, the cradle of the human race. In investigating 
the dialects of barbarous tribes, he generally made 
the Lord's prayer the basis of his interrogatories; 
and when John Chamberlain published his great 
work upon this prayer in different languages, Leib- 
nitz expressed his acknowledgments to him in a 
tasteful and learned epistle, which was afterwards 
incorporated into his book by Chamberlain. 

In these investigations respecting the relationship 
of languages, and of the tribes which spoke them, 
Leibnitz pursued the true scientific course of inter- 
preting the meaning of words by historical docu- 
ments, or oral traditions. He never would admit 
that there was any thing arbitrary or accidental in 
the structure and signification of language. The 
hypothesis of an original, universal language was 
favorably regarded by him ; but he did not, like the 
theologians of his time, consider the Hebrew as the 
primitive tongue, although undoubtedly nearly rela- 
ted to it. In his essay, entitled Brevis designatio 
meditationum de originibus gentium, duct is potissim- 
um ex indicio linguai'um, which in 1710 was incor- 
porated into the Miscellanea Berolinensia, he advo- 
cated the opinion that out of the primitive language 
there sprang in the course of time two principal 
dialects, the one spoken by the tribes of the north, 
and the other by those of the south of Asia ; and 
which he called the Japhetic and the Aramean. To 
the Aramean belonged the Arabic and Hebrew Ian- 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 205 

• 

guages; while under the Japhetic, more commonly 
called by Leibnitz the Celto-Scythian, were classed 
most of the dialects now known as the Indo-German- 
ic, — the Germanic being considered by him as the 
type of the Greek and Latin tongues. The inhab- 
itants of Europe were supposed by Leibnitz to have 
come from the East; and a favorite hypothesis with 
him was, that the fables of Prometheus and the 
battles of the Titans and giants with the gods were 
founded on a historical tradition of the invasion of 
western Asia and Greece by the Celts or Scythians. 
This invasion was supposed to have occurred at the 
time when these countries were governed by kings, 
who were afterwards regarded as gods. The bind- 
ing of Prometheus to Caucasus confirms the opinion 
of his having been a Scythian ; and the act itself 
denoted the expulsion of the Scythians from the soil 
of Greece. 

The patriotism of Leibnitz led him to give more 
attention to the critical investigation of the German 
than of any other language; and after the peace of 
Eyswick, in 1697, which filled his mind with anxi- 
eties for the future weal of his country, he composed 
the classical and truly patriotic essay, entitled, "Un- 
premeditated thoughts respecting the use and improve- 
ment of the German language." In this essay, 
written within the space of a few days, the author 
treated of the language of the Germans as the organ 
of their life and literature. The great deficiency of 
this organ was stated to be its lack of a sufficient 
number of words and phrases for the expression of 



206 LIFE, OF LEIBNITZ. 

abstract thought, and the more delicate sentiments. 
At the same time, ways for supplying this defect 
were pointed out, worthy of the universality of his 
views and the extraordinary acuteness of his intel- 
lect. No person has delineated so vividly the very 
great imperfections of the German language, towards 
the end of the seventeenth century. The preacher 
in the pulpit, he said, the judge in the seat of justice, 
and the citizen in his ordinary writing and conversa- 
tion, all seemed bent on corrupting their mother 
tongue with wretched French ; and were preparing 
themselves, by the neglect of their language, ulti- 
mately for the loss of their liberty. Though by no 
means a purist in his views on this subject, he early 
raised his voice against the prevailing imitation of 
the French in language, as well as in life and man- 
ners; and at a later period, scourged the debasing 
tendency of the times with the lash of poetical 
satire. His views on the subject of the German 
language generally appeared so correct, almost a 
century afterwards, to the Berlin Academy of 
Science, that they thought they could not do better 
than adopt the plan of Leibnitz, in their endeavors to 
improve their mother tongue. 

Leibnitz, however, did not by any means escape 
censure for using the French language to such an 
extent in his books and letters. The Latin was 
employed by him in common with the literati of his 
day generally; but few Germans wrote so extensive- 
ly in French. Klopstock, in consequence, proposed 
to banish him from the national republic of letters. 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 207 

Bat the poet must have overlooked the great number 
of writings, both published and unpublished, which 
were composed by the philosopher in his native 
tongue, and which abundaotly entitle him to a place 
among the national authors. Many, indeed, of his 
early letters were rather thickly sprinkled over with 
French and Latin words and phrases, as was natural 
in a youthful writer. But the memorials on public 
safety were written in a style so pure, flowing and 
vigorous, that the reader even of the present day 
meets with but little that he can wish to have 
altered; and from the later productions of his pen 
there may be selected a goodly number of German 
compositions to prove that the rules which he laid 
down for the improvement of his native tongue, he 
himself also followed with great fidelity and marked 
success. Leibnitz, moreover, wrote much of which 
it was not known that he was the author. Thus, to 
his pen is to be attributed the larger portion of the 
learned magazine, entitled "Monthly extracts from 
new books," and published by Eckhart, who, in 
1714, became Leibnitz's private secretary. Many 
of the best specimens of the German style of Leibnitz 
may, in fact, be found in this periodical, and among 
these a lengthy translation from Locke's Essay on 
the Human Understanding. 

But in estimating the propriety of the course 
pursued by Leibnitz, in reference to the use of the 
French language, his aims as an author must also 
be taken into consideration. He wished to gain the 
attention of the ablest minds and the most influential 



20S LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

persons in Europe. He wished, also, by the use of 
the French language, to counteract the effects of 
French ambition and diplomacy, as in the case of 
his political pamphlets and manifestos; and so great 
was the perfection of his style, as well as the bril- 
liancy of his genius, that his was the only German 
name at that time mentioned with envy in the capi- 
tal of Louis XIV. 

In 169S, Leibnitz met with a great personal loss 
in the decease of the Elector, Ernest Augustus. 
The son and successor of the latter, George Lewis, 
confirmed Leibnitz in the external honors he had 
enjoyed under the father; but the dissimilarity of 
the characters of the two princes made a very great 
difference in his real situation. In the funeral 
eulogy composed by him on the character of Ernest 
Augustus, he said in praise of his deceased master, 
that he knew how both to choose and to protect his 
friends, — that he took the part of the accused, — that 
he never harbored suspicion and distrust, — that he 
circumspectly avoided saying any thing to the dis- 
advantage of others, — that he preserved inviolate 
the secrets which were committed to him, and that, 
notwithstanding his superiority of station, he was 
truly kindhearted, and took a generous interest in 
the fortunes of persons even in the humblest circum- 
stances. There were not wanting dark sides, 
however, to the administration of this Elector. A 
plot laid by one of the younger princes to get pos- 
session of the government for himself in the place 
of his elder brother, was the occasion of many 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 209 

unhappy events which have often been recorded in 
history and even been made the subject of romance. 
But as no writings have ever been published, tend- 
ing to show that Leibnitz was in any way implica- 
ted in any of these transactions, we forbear to give 
any account of them. 



14 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Plan of Leibnitz for uniting more closely the courts of Hanover 
and Brandenburg — Negotiations for the union of the Lutheran 
and the Reformed churches — Leibnitz's plan of an academy of 
sciences at Berlin — He is invited by the Elector of Brandenburg 
to Berlin — He is appointed president of the new society of 
sciences — His proposals for obtaining pecuniary aid for the 
society — Project of a society for the protection of authors — 
Culture of silk — His efforts to improve the science of medicine 
— He attempts to establish an academy of sciences at Dresden 
— Interest taken by him in popular education — Augustus Her- 
mann Franke. 

We have now arrived at that period in our narra- 
tive, when our attention is called to the connection 
which Leibnitz formed with the court of Branden- 
burg, and which for ever secured for his name a 
conspicuous place in the literary history of Prussia. 

Notwithstanding the marriage of the Electoral 
prince of Brandenburg to the cultivated and gifted 
Hanoverian princess, Sophia Charlotte, a degree of 
coldness had existed between the courts of Hanover 
and Berlin, on account of the jealousy felt by the 
latter at the elevation of Duke Ernest Augustus to 
the rank of an Elector of the empire. To remove 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 211 

this coldness, and introduce more friendly relations 
between the two courts, Leibnitz offered his services 
as a mediator. The plan for the accomplishment 
of this object, presented by him to his former pupil, 
the princess Sophia Charlotte, and also to her 
mother, the Electoress Sophia, proposed that some 
office for the supervision of the interests of art and 
science should be given him by the Brandenburg 
court, whereby he would be required frequently to 
visit Berlin, and thus be enabled to maintain a 
friendly communication between the two related 
houses. The ultimate objects, however, which 
Leibnitz had in view were no less than to found an 
academy of science in the Prussian capital ; and by 
establishing more amicable relations between the 
Lutheran Elector of Hanover and the reformed 
Elector of Brandenburg, to effect an union of the 
Protestant churches of Germany, and even of Eu- 
rope. 

For the purpose of accomplishing the latter design, 
Leibnitz, as early as the year 1697, entered into cor- 
respondence with the Prussian cabinet secretary, 
Cuneau, eminent for his attainments in mathematical 
science. The former specified in his letters three 
degrees of union, — the first being purely civil, con- 
sisting in a good understanding between the differ- 
ent sects, and a cheerful co-operation against the 
Catholics ; the second going so far as to secure on 
all sides ecclesiastical toleration, to the exclusion of 
mutual anathemas; and the third producing con- 
formity of religious belief. Despairing, however, of 



212 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

bringing about entire harmony of opinion on the 
subjects of predestination and the eucharist, Leibnitz 
was satisfied with attempting to secure the two lower 
degrees of union. And we accordingly find him at 
this period endeavoring to negotiate an alliance 
between the Protestant churches, before having 
brought the opposing parties to similar views on the 
great points of dogmatic divinity. 

In the execution of his plan of a general union of 
Protestant Christians, Leibnitz applied for assistance 
to the liberal-minded University of Helmstadt. He 
also opened a correspondence with the learned and 
accomplished von Spanheim, privy counsellor at the 
court of Berlin, who was successful in enlisting the 
Elector in favor of the proposed union. Frederic III, 
however, was not satisfied with the plan of striving 
merely for ecclesiastical toleration. He wished to 
establish a closer union ; and to bring the Lutherans 
and Reformed together in one church, to be called 
the Evangelical. Taking at once an active interest 
in the cause, he authorized his court preacher, Jab- 
lonski, a man of moderate and liberal sentiments, to 
draw up the terms of union. These, when published, 
gained the approbation of the Helmstadt theologians, 
and called forth a friendly reply, entitled, Via ad 
pacem, from the pens of Leibnitz and Molanus. 
Jablonski afterwards visited Hanover, to confer, 
among others, with Leibnitz ; and upon his return 
to Berlin, entered into correspondence with him 
respecting the execution of their plan. Leibnitz also 
wrote a tract, by the title of Tentamen irenicum, 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 213 

mainly for the purpose of gaining over the celebrated 
Spener, who, however, was too much of a sectarist 
to regard the project of church union with favor. 
Application was likewise made through the English 
ambassador, Cresset, in Celle, for the co-operation of 
the English ministry, though with but faint hopes of 
success. But the subject of union having been 
taken in hand by the theologians, it became less a 
matter of interest to the statesmen; the jealousy, 
also, of the bigoted, in both the Eeformed and the 
Lutheran churches, became aroused ; war,' in the 
commencement of the eighteenth century, spread 
itself from the north and west over Germany ; the 
elevation of the Elector of Brandenburg to the 
honors of royalty, and of the Elector of Hanover to 
the throne of England, introduced great changes 
into the relations of the two related houses ; and 
thus this effort of Leibnitz to break down the exclu- 
sive barriers of sectarianism, and to unite Christians 
of different names in one fellowship, was destined to 
prove a failure. His plans for universal toleration 
in religion were too far in advance of the age, to 
stand at that time any chance of being realized. 

In the accomplishment of the other great object 
which Leibnitz had in view, in his proposed connec- 
tion with the court of Brandenburg, he was more 
successful. Frederic III was indeed not a little 
pleased with the thought of being considered a 
patron of letters. About that time he had also con- 
sented to the introduction into his dominions of the 
Gregorian calendar, in favor of which Leibnitz had 



214 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

zealously interested himself; and it was partly to 
superintend the erection of an astronomical observ- 
atory in Berlin, as well as to carry into execution 
the plan of founding* an academy of sciences, that 
the latter was invited by the Elector of Brandenburg 
to make a visit to his capital. 

Leibnitz arrived in Berlin in the spring of 1700, 
just as the court was celebrating with extraordinary 
splendor the nuptials of one of the Brandenburg 
princes. In these festivities he was obliged to take 
part, though much less interested in the shows of 
pleasure than in the cause of science. Of one of 
the operas given on the joyous occasion, he spoke 
with interest; but respecting his situation, on the 
whole, he wrote to the Electoress Sophia: "Me voila 
done Men derange et Men hors de mon element" 
Nor were these gala-days hardly passed, before a 
grand masquerade was given in honor of the birth- 
day of the Elector, which was also the day of the 
foundation of the academy of sciences. The charac- 
ter assigned to Leibnitz to represent in these courtly 
frivolities was that of an astrologer ; but his place 
was kindly taken by another person. He therefore 
had nothing more to do but to survey through an 
eye-glass the fantastic display, of which he gave the 
Electoress Sophia a humorous description. 

The object of the society of sciences, as it was 
originally called by Leibnitz, was fully set forth by 
him in the charter. In its sentiments and aims, the 
society was designed to be strictly German. It was 
to endeavor to improve the German language, — to 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 215 

promote the study of the history of the German 
states and churches, — and to seek, by its learned 
labors, to become the honor and ornament of the 
whole German people. The society, moreover, was 
not to strive to encourage the study of science in the 
abstract merely, but also in its applications to the 
material and spiritual interests of the country. " The 
labors of such a society," said Leibnitz, in one of his 
memorials to Frederic III, " should not be directed 
merely to the gratification of a scientific curiosity 
and the performance of fruitless experiments, or 
simply to the discovery of useful truths, without any 
application of the same ; but the uses of science 
should be pointed out, even at the outset, and such 
inventions be made as would redound to the honor 
of the originator and the benefit of the public. The 
aim of the society, accordingly, should be to improve 
not only the arts and sciences, but also agriculture, 
manufactures, commerce, and, in a word, whatever 
is useful in the support of life." To accomplish 
these objects, Leibnitz designed the society to be 
intimately connected with the different administrative 
departments of government ; and for the sake of 
collecting valuable practical information from all 
quarters of the globe, he further proposed that it 
should have the oversight over the foreign missions 
of the Prussian churches. This last matter was one 
of no little interest to Leibnitz, who endeavored also 
to interest the English, through the Archbishop of 
Canterbury, in the cause of acquiring useful know- 
ledge from remote nations; and when the Czar, 



216 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

Peter the Great, was in Berlin, in 1695, Leibnitz 
likewise made an effort to obtain the protection of 
this prince for Protestant missionaries within the 
imperial dominions. 

It is rather a singular circumstance connected with 
the founding of this society, that Leibnitz was chosen 
president of it for life before there were any members 
appointed. But, as Frederic the Great said, Leibnitz 
was a society of sciences by himself; and upon him 
the success of the institution almost entirely depend- 
ed. The office was accepted by him (he having 
been previously appointed privy counsellor of justice), 
with the understanding that he should visit Berlin 
as often as his duties in Hanover would permit. 
The organization of the society, partly owing to 
impediments occasioned by the then prevailing war, 
took place very slowly ; and for the first ten years of 
its existence, the letters of the president were full of 
complaints on this account. The building of the 
observatory also advanced with no greater rapidity. 
There was no place for the members of the society, 
consisting of eighty persons, to assemble; and up to 
the year 1710 there can hardly be said to have been 
any society in existence. The war preventing the 
raising of funds, the president displayed no little 
ingenuity in devising numerous and, in some in- 
stances, very singular methods for supplying the 
requisite resources. Among other things, he pro- 
posed that the monopoly of the trade in books should 
be given to the society. It was indeed one of the 
favorite, though at the same time one of the most 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 217 

extravagant, projects of Leibnitz, in his later years, 
to establish a society of German authors, for the pro- 
tection of the fraternity from the power of publishers 
and booksellers. A committee, according to this 
plan, was to be appointed by the society, to decide 
what MSS. were worthy of being printed; and then 
each member should subscribe for most or all of the 
books relating to his particular branch of study. It 
was hoped that in time funds would accumulate in 
the treasury of the society, which might be applied 
to the assistance of poor and deserving scholars, or 
to defray the expenses of useful experiments and 
investigations. 

Still another proposal made by Leibnitz for obtain- 
ing pecuniary aid for the society of sciences, was, 
that it should engage in the culture of silk. In 
1707, accordingly, he procured the consent of the 
king of Prussia to this project, who caused the royal 
gardens at Potsdam and elsewhere to be planted with 
white mulberry trees. He himself, also, as we learn 
from Eckhart, made a small experiment in the 
business at Hanover; and persuaded the Elector, as 
well as the Duke of Wolfenbii ttel, to do the same. 
But the loss both to prince and philosopher turned 
out to be greater than the profit. Leibnitz, however, 
persevered in the matter until his death, — it being 
his disposition, as his secretary remarked, never to 
yield to difficulties, but to prosecute every thing he 
undertook to extremity. Privilege, moreover, was 
obtained to plant mulberry trees and raise silk worms 
in all parts of Saxony. But the business never 



21S LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

prospered; and in Prussia the plantations gradually 
went to ruin, until they were taken under the foster- 
ing protection of Frederic the Great. 

In this connection, we may allude to the efforts 
made by Leibnitz, in 1701, to improve the science 
and practice of medicine. These resulted in a royal 
edict, commanding all the physicians in Prussia to 
send to the government annually an abstract of all 
the important observations made in the course of 
their professional practice, as materials for the com- 
position of a history of medicine. In this science 
Leibnitz laid great stress upon observations and 
experiments, and little on theories, as may be seen 
in his report respecting the introduction of ipecacu- 
anha, addressed to the Leopold Society, and entitled, 
Relatio de novo Antidysenterico Americano. He 
also strenuously advocated the importance of the 
study of comparative anatomy, and published an 
essay on the subject, under the title of Animadver- 
siones circa assertiones aliquas theories medicce verce 
Staklii. Attention to botany was likewise strongly 
recommended, in a letter de methodo botanica to the 
physician, Gakenholz. The interest felt by Leibnitz 
in the advancement of the science of medicine was 
very great ; and he was wont to say, that next to 
virtue the greatest attention ought to be paid to 
health. 

It has been stated that the difficulties attending 
the establishment of the society of sciences in Berlin 
were very discouraging; but this circumstance did 
not deter Leibnitz from attempting to found a similar 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 219 

institution in Dresden, under the auspices of Augus- 
tus, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. This 
monarch was kindly disposed towards Leibnitz, 
besides being a generous patron of the arts and 
sciences. A sketch of a literary and scientific acad- 
emy was therefore presented to Augustus through 
the medium of the royal confessor, Father Vota, a 
skilful mathematician, with whom Leibnitz had long 
been acquainted. The views contained in this paper 
were very similar to those stated in the charter of 
the society of sciences in Berlin, except that the 
importance of the education of the young was 
dwelt upon at large, and particularly with refer- 
ence to the youthful prince, afterwards Augustus II. 
But the war in which the Polish king was then 
engaged with Charles XII, prevented him from 
paying that attention to literary subjects which was 
requisite for the founding of the proposed society; 
and the project therefore fell through. The views 
expressed by Leibnitz respecting the education of 
the prince Augustus, it may be added, had been 
previously expressed by him in a very remarkable 
essay, entitled, Projet de VEducation d'un Prince. 
This essay portrayed his ideal of a great and good 
ruler. 

Leibnitz also deeply interested himself in the 
cause of popular education. The schools of Germa- 
ny, especially the Protestant part of it, were at this 
period in a condition truly deplorable ; and Leibnitz, 
who had long made the education of the young a 
subject of reflection, was about to co-operate with 



220 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

Erhard Weigel in some plan for the reform of the 
schools, when the latter was removed by death. 
After this event, a correspondence respecting the 
same object was entered into with Leibnitz by Herr- 
mann Augustus Franke, who made himself for ever 
illustrious by the foundation of the orphan asylum 
in Halle, and whose bread of charity has given 
immortal life to thousands upon thousands of father- 
less and motherless children. Not only were the 
intentions of this friend of God and man approved 
by Leibnitz, but he also advised that an application 
should be made to Peter the Great, then in Germa- 
ny, for the establishment of similar asylums in 
Russia; and recommended, likewise, that these 
schools should be made nurseries of Protestant mis- 
sionaries. War, however, which destroys so many 
of the costly monuments of human beneficence, frus- 
trated completely the hopes and plans entertained by 
Leibnitz of a reform of popular education. 



CHAPTER XV. 



Leibnitz goes to Vienna to attend a conference on church union- 
He composes a manifesto in favor of the rights of Charles III 
to the crown of Spain — His labors in connection with the eleva- 
tion of the Elector of Brandenburg to the honors of royalty — 
Arrival in Hanover of the English embassy with the act of suc- 
cession 3 also of Toland — State papers written by Leibnitz for 
the Prussian government — ^Negotiations for uniting the Protes- 
tant churches of Germany, Holland and England — The Theod- 
icea, its origin, character and effects — Leibnitz's relation to the 
queen of Prussia — Her death— Leibnitz's grief— Diminution of 
his influence at the court of Prussia— Christian Wolf. 

Having given in the preceding chapter an account 
of the establishment of the society of sciences in 
Berlin, we return in our narrative to the year 1700. 
In the summer of this year, Leibnitz was invited to 
accompany the Electoress Sophia, and her daughter 
Sophia Charlotte, ostensibly on a journey to the 
baths of Aix la Chapelle, though in reality on a 
secret diplomatic mission to the court of Holland. 
But the invitation was declined, Leibnitz preferring 
to try the effect of the waters of Toplitz in curing a 
bad cold he had taken in the spring, and designing 
also to continue his journey as far as to Vienna. 



222 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

The object of this journey, undertaken at the request 
of the emperor, was to attend a conference on the 
subject of church union, to which reference has been 
made in a preceding chapter. Leaving Toplitz, con- 
siderably improved in health, Leibnitz proceeded to 
the Austrian capital, where he served the emperor 
in a manner highly satisfactory to the latter, though 
rather in the province of diplomacy than of theology. 
The death of Charles II, of Spain, happening at this 
time, it is probable that the opinion of the Hanove- 
rian sage was taken respecting the critical posture of 
the political affairs of Europe. This we infer main- 
ly from the fact that three years afterwards Leibnitz 
was called upon to furnish a manifesto in favor of 
the rights of Charles III to the Spanish crown, in 
opposition to the usurpation of Louis XIV in behalf 
of his grandson. This master-piece of diplomatic 
argumentation was published, anonymously of course, 
under the title of Manifeste contenant les Droits de 
Charles III, Roi oVEspctgne, et les justes motifs de 
son Expedition. It was written to subserve the 
interests, not merely of king Charles, but also of all 
the European powers who had allied themselves 
against the supremacy of Louis ; and developed with 
extraordinary ability the moral and religious injuries 
which the policy of this despotic monarch had in- 
flicted upon the people of France, and indirectly 
upon Europe. 

Remaining in Vienna until near the end of the 
year 1700, Leibnitz returned to Hanover just before 
the coronation of the Elector of Brandenburg as king 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 223 

of Prussia. The claims of this prince to the honors 
of royalty had been ably, though anonymously, 
advocated by the philosopher of Hanover ; and much 
was afterwards done by him likewise, especially in 
Eckhart's literary journal, to elucidate the rights and 
extol the importance of the new kingdom. Sophia 
Charlotte, soon after her elevation to the throne, 
having retired with a single friend to the castle of 
Liitzenburg, to escape the observation and homage 
which her new honors attracted, invited Leibnitz to 
visit her in her seclusion, saying to him, " think not 
that I prefer this greatness and these crowns, about 
which they make such a bustle here, to the conver- 
sations on philosophy we have had together in Liit- 
zenburg. " But Leibnitz excused himself from pay- 
ing his court at that time to her Majesty, on account 
of the arrival in Hanover of the English embassy, 
with the act of succession passed by the Parliament 
of Great Britain in favor of the House of Brunswick. 
The ambassador, Count Macclesfield, brought letters 
to Leibnitz from Bishop Burnet, who had previously 
been in Hanover, and upon whose work on the 
Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England the 
German philosopher had written a series of observa- 
tions. 

The English ambassador was accompanied by a 
large number of noble and gifted persons, among 
whom may be particularly mentioned the famous 
Toland, precursor of Tindal and Collins, and head 
of the English free-thinkers in the early part of the 
eighteenth century. The hatred entertained by this 



224 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

writer against the Catholics and the Stuarts had 
made him zealously in favor of the House of Hano- 
ver; and the fame of the liberal and intelligent 
Electoress Sophia, and of her daughter, the queen of 
Prussia, attracted him to Germany. But these 
illustrious ladies receiving the Christian theism of 
Leibnitz instead of the deism of the English free- 
thinkers, the presence of Toland and his friends in 
Hanover was not looked upon very favorably by the 
Electoress Sophia, who also from political motives 
did not like to encourage teachers of religious views 
obnoxious to the people of England. Leibnitz there- 
fore was obliged to devise ways of politely detaining 
Toland from attendance at court. But the Irish 
free-thinker did not fail every where to indulge in 
attacks upon the Scriptures and the church, and 
liberally to circulate his Christianity not mysterious. 
A copy of this work was presented to Leibnitz, who 
took occasion, even during the visit of the author in 
Hanover, to defend the church against this attack of 
rationalism, in an essay published in connection with 
the posthumous writings of Toland, under the title 
of Annotatiunculce subitanece ad Tolandi librum de 
Christianismo Mysteriis carente. The views ex- 
pressed in this defence were founded on the doctrine 
of monads. Leibnitz afterwards met with Toland in 
Berlin, where the latter was disputing upon subjects 
connected with the Scriptures in presence of the 
queen and her theologians ; and in 1710, on the 
reception of Toland's Adeisidcemon, sive Titus Livius 
a superstitione vindicatus, he replied to it in a lengthy 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 225 

epistle, maintaining the doctrine of an intelligent 
and supermundane first cause. 

During the visit, above alluded to, of Leibnitz to 
Berlin, he was assiduous, not only as a teacher of 
philosophy, but also as a statesman, in serving his 
friend the queen. His stay was protracted through 
several months ; and he was enabled to accomplish 
much towards keeping up a friendly understanding 
between the courts of Berlin and Hanover. In this 
connection may be mentioned two important state 
papers, drawn up by Leibnitz in the interest of the 
Prussian government, entitled, the one, Information 
Sommaire touchant le Droit incontestable de La 
Majeste le Roi de Prusse a la Succession de son Grand 
pere le Prince Frederic Henri de Glorieuse Me moire, 
fonde sur son Testament et sur le Fidei-commis per- 
petuel, elabli dans la Maison de Nassau- Orange, par 
droit d'ainesse et en faveur des Femmes au defaut 
des Males; and the other, Traite Sommaire du droit 
de Frederic I, Roi de Prusse, a la Souveraiente de 
Neufchatel et de Valangin en Suisse. The object of 
these papers is sufficiently explained by their title. 
They were anonymous, but their authorship is un- 
questionable. 

Here we recur once more, and for the last time in 
this narrative, to the subject of the union of the 
Lutheran and the Reformed churches. The nego- 
tiations respecting this matter between the Lutheran 
court of Hanover and the Reformed court of Berlin 
in the early part of the eighteenth century progressed 
but slowly. They were not indeed given up at once, 

15 



226 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

especially on the part of the king of Prussia. But 
Leibnitz gradually took less and less interest in them, 
until at length, in the year 1706, he ceased from all 
efforts in the cause to which formerly he had been 
so devoted. This change was owing to the express 
orders of the Elector, who, from the altered posture 
of political affairs, was no longer in favor of the 
union of the two churches. The event, however, 
which finally put an end to the negotiations, was the 
conversion to Romanism of the Duke Anton Ulrich. 
This step having been countenanced in a written 
opinion on the subject by the theological faculty of 
the University of Helmstadt, the opponents of the 
House of Brunswick in England took occasion to 
charge the Hanoverian government with a leaning 
to Catholicism. The Helmstadt theologians were 
therefore obliged to protest against the construction 
which was put upon their words ; and Leibnitz also 
was compelled to relinquish all efforts for uniting the 
Lutherans with either the Church of Borne or that 
of Calvin. 

The Elector, however, was by no means opposed 
to a connection between the Protestant churches of 
Germany and the Episcopal church of England. 
Accordingly, we find Leibnitz favoring the efforts 
which were made in the beginning of the eighteenth 
century to introduce the organization, or at least the 
liturgy, of the English church into Prussia and Han- 
over. He addressed a memorial to Frederic I, 
w T herein, adducing the English adage, " No bishop, 
no king," he recommended the establishment of a 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 227 

hierarchy in connection with and subordinate to the 
throne. In 1704 the English liturgy was translated, 
and a copy sent in the name of the king of Prussia 
to the Archbishop of Canterbury, with a request that 
he would give his advice respecting the mode of. 
introducing into Germany the organization of. the 
Church of England. But this prelate, offended 
because the Helmstadt divines would not avow in 
express words an abhorrence of Popery, would hold 
no connection with the Protestant churches of Ger- 
many ; and the whole matter, therefore, was dropped. 
In 1710, however, the king of Prussia recurred to 
the subject; and a correspondence was commenced 
between Jablonski and others on the part of Prussia, 
and the Archbishop of York, Bolinbroke, then secre- 
tary of state, Lord Raby, the English ambassador at 
the court of Prussia, and the chaplain of the latter, 
the Rev. Mr. Ayerst, on the side of England. It 
was thought that much would be gained by interest- 
ing the Elector of Hanover in the cause ; and with 
this end in view Leibnitz was applied to, who cheer- 
fully co-operated w^ith the parties in Prussia and 
England. But after a long correspondence nothing 
was brought to pass, there being no general desire * 
in Germany to change the existing forms of church 
government. On the death of Frederic I, who took 
a lively personal interest in the project of introducing 
the English ecclesiastical system intohis dominions, 
the negotiations were brought to a final close. Un- 
like the famous correspondence between Leibnitz 
and B^suet, or that even between the former and 



.b^s 



228 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

Pelisson, neither the negotiations for uniting- the 
Lutheran and Eeformed churches, nor for introducing 
into Germany the English form of ecclesiastical 
government, added any thing to the literature or the 
theological science of the age. Leibnitz, too, in his 
later writings on these subjects, did little else than 
advocate the measures which state policy dictated, 
and express, instead of his own liberal and philosoph- 
ical sentiments, the merely political views of his 
master. 

It is to the interest, however, Leibnitz took in 
removing the barriers which separated the members 
of the visible church of Christ, that we are indirectly 
indebted for the great literary production of his later 
years. We refer, of course, to the Theodicea. The 
real importance of this work, viewed in its relations 
to the age of Louis XIV, consists not in the sketch 
it contains of the author's philosophical system, but 
rather in the application of his philosophical views 
to the solution of questions respecting the doctrines 
of the atonement, of the eucharist, of grace and 
works, of freedom and predestination. These were 
the same questions the discussion of which dissolved 
the unity of the church in the sixteenth century ; 
which throughout the century following gave rise to 
the most violent civil as well as theological disputes, 
in different Christian sects and parties ; and the 
effects of which were plainly perceptible up to the 
middle of the eighteenth century. One need but 
recall, for example, the controversies between the 
Jansenists and the Molinists, the Gomarists and the 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 22 

Arminians, the adherents of the Lutheran and the 
Reformed confessions of faith. These religious 
disputes served to give to the idea of a Theodicea, or 
a justification of God on account of the evil in the 
world, the first place in a system of Christian ethics, 
and to require for the treatment of the questions 
involved in it, a mind which could survey the whole 
field of theological controversy from the heights of 
Christian philosophy. 

The subject of the Theodicea had been revolving 
in the mind of Leibnitz for a long course of years. 
Even in youth he began to reflect upon the great 
themes o f liberty arid predes tination ; as early as the 
year 1671, he wrote an essay which was circulated 
in manuscript among German theologians of all 
persuasions, wherein such matters as the freedom of 
the human will, the prescience of God, and election, 
were treated of; and in the year 1697, in a letter to 
Magliabechi, he first made use of the term Theodicea. 
From his letters written a few years later, it appears 
that he wished not to write upon this important 1 
theme until after having presented his views orally 
to a considerable number of the most intelligent 
Protestant theologians, with the hope of gaining 
their approval of his sentiments, and preventing the 
same, when made public, from becoming the subject 
of acrimonious controversy. A design of this kind, 
however, he found no convenient opportunity for 
executing; and so numerous were the demands 
constantly made upon his attention, that it is doubtful 
whether the Theodicea would ever have been written 



) 



230 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

but for the impulse communicated to its author from 
intercourse with his illustrious pupil in philosophy, 
the queen of Prussia. This lady was of so thought- 
ful and inquisitive a turn of mind, as sometimes to 
complain, that her teacher, in his conversations with 
her, treated of philosophical themes too superficially; 
and according to the testimony of Frederic the 
Great, Leibnitz was obliged to reply, " It is not 
possible to satisfy you; you desire to know the 
wherefore of the wherefore." Being in the habit of 
frequently reading and explaining to her, in the 
castle of Liitzenburg, the writings of Peter Bayle, 
Leibnitz was induced to commit his thoughts to 
writing, and thus originated the Theodicea. It was 
published in 1710, under the title of Essais de Theo- 
dicee sur la bonte de Dieu, la liberte de Vhomme et 
Vorigine du mal. The works of Bayle, it will be 
remembered, were the great fountain from which 
the eighteenth century derived its skepticism in 
religion and philosophy. This author, distinguished 
alike for his erudition and his acuteness, made it the 
business of his life to undermine the influence of 
theologians, by showing the inutility of their contro- 
versies ; and, though himself unconscious of his 
destructive tendencies, he paved the way for the 
infidelity of his still more celebrated countryman 
and successor, Voltaire. 

The circumstances which led to the composition 
of the Theodicea are more fully explained in a letter 
from the author to Thomas Burnet. "The greatest 
part of this book," he writes, "was composed by 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 231 

piecemeal, while I was much in the society of the 
late queen of Prussia. These matters were then 
discussed in connection with Bayle's Dictionary and 
his other works, to which much attention was at 
that time given. In our conversations, I was accus- 
tomed to reply to the objections of Bayle, and to 
show that they were not so weighty as many per- 
sons, unfriendly to religion, would have us suppose. 
Her Majesty quite often desired me to write down 
my replies, that she might devote more time to their 
consideration ; and, moreover, to write them in 
French, in order that they might be read not only 
by her, but also by others in foreign countries, who 
were unacquainted with the Latin language. To 
comply with the wishes of this great princess, and 
in accordance with the suggestions of my friends in 
Berlin, I have collected these writings, made addi- 
tions to them, and therefrom formed this work." 

Of the principles set forth in the Theodicea, we 
shall not here give any account, because they have, 
in substance, been stated in a preceding chapter, in 
connection with Leibnitz's doctrine of monads. 
Suffice it to say, that its truths were drawn from the 
depths of the author's experience; and that by fre- 
quent digressions into the domains of history, edu- 
cation and physics, he was able to present his readers 
with learned and attractive illustrations. The work 
was, therefore, calculated alike to please, to instruct, 
and to edify. Its extraordinary effect upon readers 
of various lands and confessions, upon princes, liter- 
ati, and pious persons in the humble walks of life, 



232 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

shows that it grew out of the inmost spirit arid wants 
of the age in which it was written, and that it ful- 
filled a high destiny. Somewhat remarkable is it, 
by the way, that a theological work so generally 
circulated, and treating of so many thorny problems, 
should not have been made the occasion of new 
controversies. Its influence in Germany, to which 
the national pride taken in the work somewhat 
contributed, continued to be felt, even until the time 
of Kant, notwithstanding the scornful caricatures of 
optimism, by the author of Candide, and notwith- 
standing the introduction of a sensuous and material 
philosophy from France and England. In France 
it is still put, together with the writings of classic 
authors, into the hands of the youth. In England 
only, owing to the unpopularity of its author on 
account of his unhappy controversy with Newton, 
was the Theodicea received coldly. The particular 
friends of Leibnitz in that country, however, wel- 
comed this fruitful labor of genius ; and the Princess 
of Wales was desirous of having it translated into 
English. 

The apology of Sextus, at the close of the Theo- 
dicea, has so frequently been made the subject of 
critical comment, that a brief abstract of it in this 
place may not be inappropriate. The parable is 
designed to illustrate the doctrine of optimism ; and 
the ground-work of it is taken from a dialogue on 
free-will, by Laurentius Valla, in opposition to 
Boethius. Sextus, the son of Tarquin the Proud, 
goes to Delphi to consult Apollo respecting his des- 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 23 

tiny. The god predicts to him that he will violate 
Lucretia. Sextus being grieved at this prophecy, 
Apollo replies that it is not his fault ; he has the 
power merely of foreseeing the future ; Jupiter has 
the disposition of all things, and to him the complaint 
of Sextus should be addressed. Here ends the dia- 
logue of Valla, which advocates the foreknowledge 
of God, at the expense of his goodness. But Leib- 
nitz, not satisfied with this conclusion, continued it 
agreeably to his own principles, as follows : — Sextus 
goes to Dodona to complain to Jupiter of the crime 
he is destined to perpetrate. Jupiter replies, that he 
only needs to stay away from Eome. But Sextus 
declares that he cannot relinquish the prospect of 
being a king, and departs. After his withdrawal, 
the high priest, Theodorus, inquires of Jupiter, why 
he has not given anolliel' l] Will to Sextus ? Instead 
of an answer, Theodorus is sent to Minerva to ask 
the reason. The goddess shows him the palace of 
destinies, wherein are representations of all possible 
worlds, from the best to the poorest. In the last 
and best of these worlds, the high priest sees Sextus 
go to Borne and violate the wife of his friend. 
" You see," says the goddess of wisdom, - " it was 
not my father who made Sextus wicked. He was 
so from all eternity, and in consequence of his will. 
Jupiter has only bestowed upon him the existence 
he could not refuse in the best of all possible worlds ; 
he has but transferred him from the region of possi- 
ble to that of actual beings. What great events 
does the crime of Sextus draw after it ? The liberty 



234 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

of Rome, the rise of a government abounding in 
civil and military virtues, and of an empire destined 
to conquer and civilize the world." Theodorus 
returns thanks to Minerva, and acknowledges the 
justice of the king of gods and men. 

We cannot here pass by without notice, the sin- 
gular tradition which sprang up soon after the death 
of Leibnitz, that the author of the Theodicea did not 
express in this work, his own personal convictions, but 
that he agreed substantially with the skeptic whose 
arguments he refuted. This suspicion had no better 
origin than a mere jest of Leibnitz's. He having 
inquired of Prof. Pfaffius, of Tubingen, with whom 
he was in the habit of corresponding, his opinion of 
the Theodicea, this theologian with equal good- 
nature and narrowmindedness replied, " It seems to 
me you have invented that theological system only 
in jest, while at the bottom you receive the doctrines 
of Bayle ; but it is necessary that some one give the 
dangerous principles of Bayle a serious and thorough 
refutation." This, in fact, he was designing to do 
himself. What other reply, then, did the presump- 
tuous professor deserve than the ironical one which 
was given him. He expected indeed, an angry 
answer ; but Leibnitz contented himself with writing 
as follows : " You are right, venerable sir, in what 
you say respecting the Theodicea. You have hit 
the nail on the head ; and I wonder that no one 
before has taken this view of my intentions. For 
it is not the business of philosophers always to treat 
of subjects seriously ; they who, as you correctly 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 235 

observe, so tax the powers of their mind in the 
invention of hypotheses. You who are a theologian, 
you will pursue the theological course in the refu- 
tation of errors." ^ ^ ^ Leibnitz could not have 
foreseen the singular abuse to which the learned 
professor subjected this mere piece of pleasantry, or 
the number of persons who so readily adopted the 
false construction put upon it, else he would have 
been more circumspect in his remarks. It is true, 
the Theodicea was not composed for strictly logical 
thinkers, or persons who apply philosophical tests 
to whatever they- read ; and so far the book might 
truly be considered less a labor than a recreation of 
the mind of its author. Leibnitz, also, was careful 
to abstain in this book from any scientific investi- 
gation of the dogmas of the Christian church, out 
of regard to the scruples, and from distrust of the 
metaphysical capacities of those for whose improve- 
ment it was written ; but not surely because he was 
opposed to subjecting these matters to philosophi- 
cal analysis, nor because he was not expressing, 
though in a popular form, his own settled and serious 
convictions. 

The royal personage for whom the Theodicea 
was particularly written, did not live to witness its 
completion. Her demise took place in Hanover, 
while Leibnitz was absent on a visit to Berlin. 
Frederic the Great, in his Memoirs of the House of 
Brandenburg, relates that " the queen in her last 
hours, mentioned the name of Leibnitz. One of the 
ladies by her bedside bursting into tears, the queen 



236 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

said to her, ' Weep not for me, for I am now going 
to satisfy my curiosity respecting the origin of things 
which Leibnitz has never been able to explain to 
me, — respecting space, the infinite, existence and 
non-existence ; and for the king, my husband, I 
prepare the spectacle of a funeral ceremony which 
will give him a new opportunity of making a mag- 
nificent -parade.' She recommended with her last 
breath the learned men she had favored, to the 
attentions of her brother, the Elector." " This 
princess," says the same royal author, " possessed the 
knowledge of a learned, and the spirit of a great 
man. She thought it not beneath a queen to bestow 
her regards on a philosopher ; and as those persons 
to whom heaven vouchsafes gifted souls, elevate 
themselves to an equality with monarchs, so she 
esteemed Leibnitz well worthy of her friendship." 

The news of the death of the' queen affected 
Leibnitz very deeply. He immediately set out for 
Hanover ; but not before the ambassadors and other 
dignitaries in Berlin, knowing the intimacy which 
had subsisted between Leibnitz and the departed 
queen, had paid him formal visits of condolence. 
The regrets of bereaved friendship were expressed 
not only in the letters of Leibnitz, written at the 
time of the mournful event; but they continued to 
breathe a subdued sadness over his correspondence 
for a long time afterwards. To Miss Von Pollnitz, 
the common friend of the departed queen, and of 
her instructer in philosophy, he wrote as follows : 
" I infer your feelings from my own. I weep not; 
I complain not ; but I know not where to look for 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 237 

relief. The loss of the queen appears to me like 
a dream ; but when I awake from my revery, I find 
it but too true. Your misfortune is not greater than 
mine, only your feelings are more lively, and you 
stood in the midst of the general calamity. This 
encourages me to write to you, and to beg that you 
will moderate your sorrows, if possible, lest you do 
yourself an injury. It is not by excessive grief that 
we shall best honor the memory of one of the most 
perfect princesses of the eanh ; but rather by our 
admiration of her virtues, — and the reasonable 
world 7 will be on our side. My letter is more phi- 
losophical than my heart, and I am unable to follow 
my own counsel ; but it is, notwithstanding, rational. " 
During the first months of his affliction, his usual 
employments were very much disarranged; his cor- 
respondence was for the most part neglected ; and 
he himself narrowly escaped a severe attack of 
illness. He had also to regret the loss of the letters 
of the queen, the most of which were destroyed 
after her decease ; and which, he declared would 
have favorably compared with those of Christina 
of Sweden. 

After the death of the queen, Leibnitz had less 
occasion than before to visit Berlin ; and in the 
latter part of his life he refrained altogether from 
going thither. Indeed as early as the year 1700 
he ceased to act as president of the society of sci 
fences, the direction of which, without his knowl 
edge, was at that time given to another person 
His pension as president was also withholden, not 
withstanding the efforts made by him to obtain it 



238 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

In fact, the fortunes of the society, as well as the 
influence of its founder, began to decline after the 
death of the excellent Sophia Charlotte ; and the 
accession of the new king, Frederic William I, to 
the throne, was any thing but favorable to the 
progress of the arts and sciences in Prussia. Some 
mutual jealousies also having sprung up between 
the courts of Prussia and Hanover, the presence of 
Leibnitz in Berlin, became, partly on that account, 
no longer acceptable to Frederic William. Indeed, 
the visit of Leibnitz to the Prussian capital in 1711, 
having been considerably protracted in consequence 
of an injury received from a fall, . the court even 
presumed to intimate that his illness was feigned, 
and that he was remaining there in the capacity of 
a spy. On the other hand, the Elector, somewhat 
displeased at the frequent journeys of Leibnitz to 
Berlin, was himself disposed to believe that the 
philosopher was not unwilling to find an excuse for 
lingering in a city he was supposed to prefer to 
Hanover. Leibnitz accordingly never afterwards 
went to Berlin to remain there any length of time. 

But before his visits to Berlin entirely ceased, he 
there met with a person who afterwards became his 
most celebrated follower. This was Christian Wolf. 
The attention of Leibnitz had before been directed 
to Wolf by means of a treatise written by the latter 
on the mathematical treatment of moral philosophy ; 
and from the year 1704 to the death of Leibnitz, he 
maintained with his young disciple an active corre- 
spondence. The elder of the two appears to have 
more liirblv of the mathematical than of the 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 239 

speculative talents of the younger; and therefore to 
have proposed to him to undertake the business of 
introducing the differential calculus into the high 
schools of Germany. Entertaining these views of 
the talents of his disciple, Leibnitz, in one of his 
letters to a friend, remarked that he had never cor- 
responded much with Wolf on philosophical themes, 
and that the latter was not acquainted with his 
peculiar system of metaphysics, except so far as it 
had been made public. But Wolf, hearing of this 
remark, took advantage of it to lay claim to the 
honor of being himself considered an original and 
independent thinker in philosophy. He even went 
so far as to declare that he had arrived by original 
inquiries at the same results in speculation as Leib- 
nitz; — a declaration, however, which no one w 7 ill 
credit who sees that, while the conclusions of the 
latter grew logically out of his premises, the former, 
viewing these premises as superfluous, left them 
entirely out of his system. The truth is, that Wolf 
w-as ambitious of being thought a philosopher by the 
side of his master, and was not at all content with 
being one by means of him. He even presumed to 
say that the writings of Leibnitz were without phi- 
losophical method, without clearness and 'precision; 
their author, forsooth, not being, like himself, an 
university professor. But immethodical as were the 
works of the one, they have ever remained one of 
the living fountains of modern philosophy, while the 
voluminous though well arranged productions of the 
other are merely known to have had a place among 
the things that were. 



CHAPTER XVI, 



Leibnitz visits the head quarters of Charles XXI— Description of 
Charles— Leibnitz's intercourse with Peter the Great— Leibnitz 
visits Vienna— Wishes to change his place of residence— His 
diplomatic labors at the imperial court— His la Monadologie— 
Prince Eugene of Savoy— Leibnitz's project of an academy of 
sciences at Vienna — His plans for improving the finances of the 
emperor— Ker of Kersland— Leibnitz's generosity —Academy of 
sciences opposed by the Jesuits— Leibnitz receives the title of 
imperial court counsellor— Decease of the Electoress Sophia- 
Its influence on Leibnitz— Estrangement of George Lewis from 
Leibnitz— English politics— Death of Queen Anne— Leibnitz re- 
turns to Hanover— Is not allowed to follow George I to England 
— Plans for changing his residence— His views of English affairs 
— His prophecy of a general revolution in Europe— Completion 
of his history cf the House of Brunswick— His unfinished labors. 

In the year 1707 the attention of Germany was 
intently fixed upon the struggle between Peter the 
Great, of Russia, and Charles XII, of Sweden, for 
the possession of Saxony ; — a struggle which showed 
how the most extraordinary physical energies, when 
not under the direction of a ruling idea, must in the 
end inevitably succumb to the forces of genius. It 
happened that Leibnitz, shortly after his return from 
Berlin, was sent on a secret mission to the head 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 241 

quarters of Charles XII, in Altranstadt, near Leipsic. 
At that time the Swedish tent was honored by the 
presence of three crowned heads, Charles himself, 
Augustus of Saxony, and Stanislaus of Poland; 
besides that also of the representatives of the princi- 
pal courts of Europe. The adventurous king of 
Sweden appeared at that moment to be holding in 
his hand the balance of the powers of Europe ; but 
he was less a statesman than a warrior. Marl- 
borough, however, who was both, had succeeded in 
w r arding off the danger which threatened the coali- 
tion against France, by gaining over Sweden also to 
the cause of the confederates. Thereupon Prussia 
and Hanover leagued themselves more closely with 
Charles XII; and it was with reference to this 
measure, most likely, that Leibnitz was sent to Al- 
transtadt, and that he returned from that place by 
the way of Berlin. Leibnitz saw the Swedish 
monarch at his dinner table ; and afterwards gave 
the following description of him to Lord Eaby, the 
English ambassador at the court of Prussia. " I saw 
Charles at dinner. This lasted for half an hour, 
during which time his Majesty spoke not a word. 
Once only he raised his eyes from the table, to look 
at a young prince of Wurtemburg on his left, who 
was playing with a dog, and who thereupon imme- 
diately ceased. The physiognomy of the king may 
be said to be very good ; but his dress and bearing 
are those of a knight of the old school. As I had 
waited a week for his return to the camp, I was not 
able to stay longer ; although the hope was held out 

16 



242 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

to me of being admitted to an audience with his 
Majesty, as, just on the point of my departure, were 
the young Count von Platen and Herr Fabrice. But 
what could I have said to him ? His praise, even 
when deserved, he hears not willingly ; and he nev- 
er speaks of affairs of state. Of any thing relating 
to war, however, he talks well, as I was assured by 
Herr von Schulenburg, who had held a conversation 
of two hours with him. Also, when Count von 
Flemmung, shortly before my arrival in Leipsic, was 
admitted to an audience with Charles, and dined 
with him, the king continued the conversation after 
dinner, and showed his good humor by once indulg- 
ing in a jest. Your Excellency must have read the 
printed report of the king's having danced at the nup- 
tials of one of his generals." It is worthy of remark 
that the philosopher, who was so much accustomed to 
converse with royalty, felt obliged to ask himself the 
question respecting Charles XII, " but what can I say 
to him?" In the case of the other great monarch 
whom Leibnitz was soon to meet, it was very differ- 
ent. The latter experienced no difficulty in finding 
other topics of conversation with Peter the Great, 
besides those of war and politics. 

Leibnitz had long turned his eyes with interest 
towards the mighty empire which, after the Musco- 
vite victory over Charles XII, at Pultawa, had sprung 
suddenly into life in regions beyond what was then 
considered the eastern bulwark of European civiliza- 
tion. Even when advocating the cause of the Pals- 
grave of Neuburg before the Electors of Poland, he 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 243 

had bidden that country beware of the future ascen- 
dancy of a prince of Russia, — although, on the 
whole, he anticipated great advantages to Christendom 
from the establishment of a new Christian kingdom. 
Leibnitz was prepared, therefore, to meet with interest 
the illustrious founder of the modern empire of Rus- 
sia, who in turn showed his sagacity, in consulting 
the German philosopher respecting his plans for civ- 
ilizing his extensive and barbarous dominions. 

Leibnitz met Peter the Great on several different 
occasions. The first meeting took place in the year 
1697, at the castle of Koppenbriick, where Peter vis- 
ited incognito the Elector of Hanover. But the em- 
peror wishing to avoid any particular attentions, 
Leibnitz had at this time no opportunity of holding 
personal intercourse with him. The only written 
account given by Leibnitz of the appearance of the 
Czar, is the following very brief one, taken from a 
letter of his to Thomas Burnet. " Respecting the 
Muscovites, I must speak to you of this famous em- 
bassy with which the monarch himself is connected 
incognito. We saw them in the neighborhood while 
passing through the country. Although the prince 
has not our manners, yet he possesses no ordinary 
genius. ^ # ^ The Czar, who speaks a little 
Dutch or German, said to the Electoresses of Bran- 
denburg and Hanover, w 7 ho supped with him at Kop- 
penbriick, that he was about to build seventy-five 
vessels of war, to be used on the Black Sea. He is 
now thinking only how he can worry the Turks. 
His greatest pleasure is in navigation, the art of 



244 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

-which he has studied for the purpose of making 
himself master of the Euxine. He is going, I believe, 
to Holland, to inform himself by personal observation 
of every thing connected with navigation ; and it is 
thought that he will go to Venice also for the purpose 
of seeing her marine and her famous arsenal." 

Several years later, Leibnitz had a better opportu- 
nity of becoming acquainted with Peter at Torgau, 
when the philosopher conversed freely with his 
majesty, and obtained from the latter the promise of 
assistance in the prosecution of his physical and lin- 
guistic investigations. These promises referred 
particularly to the making of observations in different 
parts of Kussia, upon the magnetic declination, and 
to the instituting of inquiries respecting the subject 
of language, not only in Russia, but also in Siberia 
and China. Not long after this interview, Leibnitz, 
in writing to one of the emperor's principal military 
officers, for the purpose of recommending to him a 
skilful physician and naturalist, took occasion to 
invite his attention to a number of methods for pro- 
moting the education of the Russians, such as the 
establishment of libraries and observatories, and the 
appointment of able teachers of the arts and sciences. 
In the same spirit, and for the accomplishment of the 
same great object, Leibnitz, shortly before his death, 
entered into correspondence with several of the most 
eminent statesmen in immediate connection with the 
Czar, and sent to them numerous memorials which, 
preserved in the archives at Moscow, have never yet 
been made public. 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 245 

About a year after the interview above described, 
the Russian emperor invited Leibnitz to join him at 
Carlsbad, where the former was spending a short 
time previous to the campaign in Swedish Pome- 
rania. It w r as at this time that the Czar gave to his 
German adviser the title of privy counsellor of 
justice, with a pension of one thousand albertus- 
thalers. Then, also, the project of an academy of 
sciences was suggested by Leibnitz to Peter, w T ho 
interested himself deeply in the matter, though the 
plan proposed was not carried into effect until after 
his death. From the period of this meeting, the 
new privy counsellor looked to the great Muscovite 
for the patronage of every important discovery that 
was made in Europe. Thus Leibnitz took meas- 
ures to have a model of his reckoning machine 
constructed with important improvements, with the 
design of sending it to the Czar; but it appears 
never to have been completed. 

Instead of returning directly to Hanover from 
Carlsbad, Leibnitz, having an opportunity of going 
to Vienna free of expense, set his face towards the 
south. Arrived at the Austrian capital, he excused 
this journey to the Elector, on the ground that the 
emperor was disposed to render him important as- 
sistance in his historical studies. There were other 
reasons, however, for his wishing to visit Vienna. 
Tired of living in Hanover, where, excepting his 
excellent friend and mistress, the Electoress Sophia, 
no one understood or appreciated him, Leibnitz, in 
fact, had long been wishing to change his place of 



246 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

residence to some larger city. The unpleasant 
nature of the relations in which he stood, at this 
period, with the Hanoverian courtiers, may be 
learned from the following extract from a letter to 
his friend Thomas Burnet. " The narrow limita- 
tions, both physical and mental, within which I am 
confined, are owing to the circumstance that I do 
not live in a large city, like Paris or London, 
abounding with learned men from whom one can 
learn something, and derive some assistance. For 
there are many things which cannot be executed 
by a single isolated individual. But here one hardly 
meets with any one to speak to; or rather one 
passes in this place for a poor courtier who under- 
takes to discourse about matters of learning. Were 
it not for the Electoress Sophia, one would speak 
still more unfrequently of such subjects." 

It was under such circumstances that Leibnitz 
conceived the desire to spend a portion of each year 
in London, — a desire he was prevented from grati- 
fying only by his obligations to the Elector. One 
of the principal inducements to visiting England, 
was the wish he entertained to unite himself to that 
society of minds, including among others, Boyle, 
Bentley and even Newton, which was engaged in 
defending the doctrines of Christianity against the 
attacks of the English deists. To his friend Burnet, 
he also expressed an earnest wish to make the ac- 
quaintance of the "excellent persons in whom Eng- 
land was so rich." But his project stood a poor 
chance of being realized, at a time when the 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 247 

Elector was beginning to insist more urgently 
than before, on his completing the history of the 
House of Brunswick. Leibnitz himself appears to 
have underrated the labor requisite for the accom- 
plishment of his task ; but it was destined to confine 
him for the remainder of his days more closely than 
ever to Hanover. 

Leibnitz, accordingly, was in no hurry to return 
to the north. One circumstance that operated to 
detain him in Vienna, was the prevalence there at 
that time, of a fatal malady, supposed by many to 
have been the plague, which rendered the journey 
of a traveller from the infected city, one of no little 
vexation and difficulty. Another was the execution 
of the diplomatic commissions with which, after his 
arrival at Vienna, he had been entrusted by the 
Elector. The services of Leibnitz were also 
highly acceptable at that juncture to the imperial 
court, on account of the critical posture of the politi- 
cal affairs of Europe. Charles VI, convinced of the 
perfect right of his house to the throne of Spain, 
was firmly resolved on refusing to accept the terms 
of the proposed peace of Utrecht, by which his 
family and the German empire were to be robbed 
of the fruits of the victories won by the allies under 
Eugene of Savoy and Marlborough. In this deter- 
mination Leibnitz did every thing in his power to 
strengthen the emperor. He also addressed a me- 
morial to his majesty respecting the propositions 
made by the imperial ambassador at Utrecht on the 
subject of the peace ; and was otherwise active 



243 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

respecting this matter, as will more fully appear 
whenever the state papers pertaining to the transac- 
tion shall have been published. 

Another question in diplomacy, respecting which, 
the emperor availed himself of the counsel and ser- 
vices of the Hanoverian sage, concerned the right of 
succession to the throne of the grand duchy of 
Florence. But without dwelling on this subject, we 
pass to the consideration of the literary labors of 
Leibnitz in Vienna. He here composed the well 
known sketch of his philosophical system, entitled 
La Monadologie, though usually called Principia 
philosophies. This was done while the author was 
living on terms of intimacy with the celebrated 
Eugene of Savoy, a prince as remarkable for his 
knowledge of science, and his cultivation of letters, 
as for his sagacity in the cabinet and his heroism 
in the field. The manuscript having been given to 
Eugene, for whose use it was specially designed, he 
set so high a value on it as to be quite unwilling 
to let it go out of his hands. Count Bonneval, a 
friend of the prince, was therefore induced to 
write complainingly to Leibnitz, saying, " Eugene 
preserves your manuscript as the priests at Naples 
do the blood of saint Januarius ; that is, he lets me 
kiss it, and thereupon he locks it up again in his 
writing-desk." 

It was from his intercourse with Prince Eugene 
that Leibnitz was led to entertain the hope of being 
able to carry into execution his cherished project of 
founding an academy of sciences in Vienna. His 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 249 

plan was a very comprehensive one. There was to 
be connected with the academy, a library of the most 
valuable literary productions, a cabinet of coins and 
antiques, a chemical laboratory, an observatory, a 
magazine for models and machines, a botanical gar- 
den, a collection of minerals and geological speci- 
mens, schools for anatomy and surgery. Provision, 
still further, was to be made for the examination of 
MSS. and diplomas, for the collection of statistics, 
for medical reports, and for journeys with the view 
of making investigations in the provinces of literature, 
art and nature. Ee wards were to be given for dis- 
coveries, and pecuniary assistance granted to persons 
who should devote themselves to different kinds of 
scientific investigations. It was proposed that the 
society should be under the supervision and patronage 
of one of the most distinguished persons of the impe- 
rial court, and that there should be affiliated branches 
established in different parts of the Austrian territory. 
Leibnitz, though not to be president of the institu- 
tion, was to reside in Vienna, and to receive for his 
services a salary of six thousand gulden, which sum, 
however, on account of the depressed state of the 
imperial finances, was afterwards reduced to two 
thousand. An academy on this plan, more or less 
modified, would perhaps have been actually estab- 
lished, had the life of the projector been spared some- 
what longer. Charles VI took the matter into seri- 
ous consideration. Prince Eugene, as well as many 
other distinguished courtiers, interested himself in it ; 
and Leibnitz, on leaving Vienna, was assured by the 



250 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

emperor, the empress, and the ministry, that the work 
should be accomplished. 

The project miscarried notwithstanding". After 
his return to Hanover, Leibnitz did all he could by 
letter, to urge on the work ; but in truth, the finances 
of Charles were then in no condition to justify the 
requisite outlay of capital. This hindrance to the 
execution of the plan was not concealed from Leib- 
nitz ; but, on the contrary, the emperor solicited him 
to give his opinion respecting the best methods of 
improving the finances of the state, and to enter into 
consultation on the subject with the Scotch diploma- 
tist, John Ker of Kersland. This person was at once 
inspired with great confidence in the abilities of the 
German philosopher ; and devised, in concert with 
him, various plans for the relief of the treasury of the 
emperor, all of which, however, proved unavailing. 
The finances of Ker himself, it may be added, owing 
to considerable sums spent by him in gratuitously 
advocating the claims of the House of Bruns'wick to 
the throne of England, were hardly in a better con- 
dition than those of the emperor; and Leibnitz, with 
a generosity that redounds not a little to his credit, 
cancelled from his own purse debts of his friend to 
the amount of two hundred and thirty pounds ster- 
ling. This pleasing fact we learn from the confes- 
sions of Ker himself, though he was not aware of it 
at the time of its occurrence. 

Another hindrance to the execution of the plan of 
founding an academy of sciences in Vienna, arose 
from the secret opposition of the Jesuits, the cause of 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 251 

whose Christian missions Leibnitz had formerly so 
boldly advocated. These priests had thought, be- 
cause Leibnitz, who was not accustomed to attend 
places of public worship, had frequently been attracted 
to the catholic church in Vienna by the eloquence of 
one of their order, that he was ready to become a 
convert to the mother church. They even referred 
to the expected change in the great philosopher as an 
argument in their attempts at proselyting. But when 
they found out that Leibnitz had no design of chang- 
ing his religion, they did not fail to suggest to influ- 
ential persons at court, that an academy of sciences 
at Vienna, under the direction of a Protestant, would 
be in the highest degree dangerous to the interests of 
both the church and the state. Their suggestions 
were doubtless not without effect. 

Leibnitz, during his visit to Vienna, was treated 
with very great favor by the emperor, the empress, 
and the empress-mother. He had private access to 
the imperial cabinet, whither he was frequently invi- 
ted to give his advice respecting secret affairs of state. 
As a public testimony of his regard for the philoso- 
pher, Charles VI bestowed on him the title of impe- 
rial court-counsellor, — the highest honor in the 
empire which could be conferred on a Protestant, 
and one to which Leibnitz had long been aspiring. 
"With this title some trifling emoluments also appear 
to have been connected. The precise time, indeed, 
when this honor was conferred on Leibnitz has not 
been ascertained, as no diploma has ever come to 
light, and he himself never referred to the subject in 



252 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

any of his letters. He must have been made a baron 
of the empire several years before, probably at the 
coronation of Joseph as king of Rome in 1690, since 
in the appointment to the office of president of the 
society of sciences in Berlin, he was called Herr von 
Leibnitz, and in one of his letters to Bossuet in 1692, 
he subscribed his name with this title. This designa- 
tion, however, was rarely made use of by him. The 
armorial bearings he employed were those of his pa- 
ternal great-uncle, Paul von Leibnitz, who had been 
raised to the rank of a noble by the emperor Ru- 
dolph. 

But while Leibnitz was protracting his visit in 
Vienna, events of considerable importance were 
transpiring in Hanover. One of these was the 
decease of the Electoress Sophia. This able princess 
departed this life at the age of eighty-four, after a 
very short illness, brought on, it was supposed, by a 
letter received by her son, George Lewis, from the 
queen of England, who being strictly in favor of the 
Pretender, severely reproached the Elector for 
having applied to the parliament for a letter of 
citation as a peer of England, without having 
previously consulted with her respecting the matter. 
The Electoress remained until the last, in full 
possession of her extraordinary faculties. Between 
two and three weeks before her death, she wrote 
Leibnitz a long letter on the affairs of England, to 
use his own words, " as full of correct judgments as 
if written by the prime minister, and at the same 
time as lively in its tone as if from the pen of a 
' young princess Sophia,' as the English called her." 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 253 

The death of his protectress was a heavy blow 
to Leibnitz. It destroyed nearly all the little inter- 
est he had left in Hanover, and annihilated his 
prospects of one day rendering himself useful as the 
friend and counsellor of a queen of England. 
George Lewis, who was wont to call Leibnitz his 
living dictionary, prized indeed the great philosopher 
as a faithful servant and an illustrious ornament of his 
court ; but unlike his predecessor, he never regarded 
him as a friend, nor entered at any time into a 
confidential correspondence with him. Though 
proud of the European reputation of the historian 
of his house, the Elector, nevertheless, was jealous 
of the honors conferred upon him by the emperor, 
and grudged, also, the time spent by him at the 
courts of Berlin and Vienna. One day during the 
absence of Leibnitz at the latter city, as search was 
made about Hanover for a lost puppy, the Elector, 
half in jest and half in earnest, exclaimed, " So must 
I cause my Leibnitz to be hunted up, to find out 
where in the world he may have hid himself." 

Leibnitz favored, moreover, the views of the 
deceased Electoress respecting English affairs too 
much, to be a favorite with George Lewis. As is 
well known, the mother had been jealous of the 
influence of her son in the kingdom, to whose throne 
she had herself cherished hopes of succeeding. 
She, also, was not inclined to follow so much the 
counsels of the whigs in England, as were the 
Elector and his minister, Bernstorf ; but, in accord- 
ance with the views of Leibnitz, she preferred to 



2-54 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

endeavor to unite the more moderate members of 
both the great political parties of the country. 
Leibnitz himself, indeed, on the question of the 
Hanoverian succession, as well as of the allied war 
against France, was strongly opposed to the policy 
of the tories, but he was too liberal in his sentiments 
and too universal in his aims, to attach himself 
exclusively to either party. With these views he 
wrote to Ker, as follows : " The king must by all 
means leave to his nation the free choice of the 
members of parliament ; and oppose, also, the hate- 
ful intrigues and corruption which have existed 
under former reigns. Such a course of conduct 
will surround him with men of honor and ability, 
who will act from disinterested principles, and will 
have regard for the general welfare of the nation. 
I hope and wish that our German ministers may 
never presume to meddle with the affairs of Eng- 
land, for they would not only commit a great impro- 
priety, but also prevent the king from gaining the 
confidence and affection of his subjects. " 

The death of Queen Anne, and the subsequent 
call of the Elector George Lewis to the English 
throne, were events which took place while Leibnitz 
was still in Vienna. But on being summoned by 
his friend Ker of Kersland, to pay his court and 
offer his counsels to the new king, he set out imme- 
diately for Hanover. Owing, however, to the bad- 
ness of the weather and his advanced age, he did 
not arrive at the end of the journey until several 
days after the departure of his Majesty. He was 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 255 

obliged, therefore, for the time being, to content 
himself with forwarding his congratulations to his 
master by letter, and with indulging the hope of 
soon following him to London. This design of 
Leibnitz, however, was, from the outset, firmly- 
opposed by Bernstorf. And when, a year after- 
wards, the former applied for permission to visit 
London, the latter returned a direct refusal, adding, 
also, that Leibnitz would best gratify the wishes of 
his royal master by immediately resuming the long 
neglected history of the House of Brunswick. This 
letter deeply wounded the feelings of the venerable 
sage, already hurt by the stoppage of his salary 
during his absence in Vienna, and especially by the 
derogatory tone in w r hich, shortly before leaving 
Hanover, the king had alluded, in a postscript to 
one of his orders to his ministers, to the labors of 
his historiographer. The latter entered into an 
explanation and defence of his conduct, remarking 
in one of his letters to Bernstorf, that this treatment 
little comported with the labors, the sacrifices and 
the zeal of so many years spent in the service of the 
government; and concluding still another to the 
same person, with the declaration, "II rrCa touche 
plus que je ne saurais dire, de voir que, pendant que 
V Europe me rend justice, on ne le fait pas, oil j'aurois 
le plus de droit de Vattendre." 

Most probably it was this estrangement of George I 
from the tried and faithful servant of his house, as 
well as partly, no doubt, the desire of the former to 
ingratiate himself in the good opinions of his En- 



256 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

glish subjects, that led him to incline to the side of 
Newton in the great controversy between this phi- 
losopher and Leibnitz. The king applied for infor- 
mation respecting the merits of the dispute, to the 
Abbe Conti, who attempted to act as a mediator 
between the two rivals ; but as this person viewed 
the question at issue as one merely respecting the 
priority of the discovery of the method of fluxions 
and of the differential calculus, his opinions were, 
naturally, favorable to the Englishman. George I, 
therefore, on his visit, in 1716, to his ancestral 
dominions, said to Leibnitz, that " the Abbe Conti 
was coming over to Germany to convert him." 
But this monarch was, nevertheless, proud of the 
German as well as the English philosopher; and is 
reported to have said, " I think myself happy in 
possessing two kingdoms, in one of which I have 
the honor of reckoning a Leibnitz, and in the other 
a Newton, among my subjects." 

Long discontented, as we have seen, with his resi- 
dence in Hanover, and somewhat mortified at the 
widely circulated report of his being no longer in the 
good graces of his royal master, Leibnitz turned his 
thoughts in his old age towards that splendid city 
where in earlier years he had designed to establish 
his home, to the sunny skies and learned society of 
the capital of Louis XIV. Shortly before the death 
of this monarch, and but a year before his own, the 
aged philosopher communicated his desire of chang- 
ing his residence to the Parisian Jesuit Tournemine. 
With this learned father, Liebnitz was then engaged 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 257 

in a scientific controversy respecting a treatise pub- 
lished by the latter the year before, under the title of 
De origine Francorum, and which, translated into 
the French, the author caused to be presented in a 
neatly executed manuscript, to Louis XIV. The 
letter of Leibnitz to Tournemine was also commu- 
nicated to this monarch, who expressed himself high- 
ly pleased with the design disclosed in it ; and de- 
clared himself ready to do whatever he could to ren- 
der the residence of the German philosopher in 
Paris as pleasant, as the latter should render his ser- 
vices useful to the French nation. This we learn 
from Tournemine ; but the good father did not in- 
form us of his unsuccessful attempt to make a prose- 
lyte of his German correspondent. Nor do we learn 
from the French ecclesiastic, the reasons which in- 
duced Leibnitz to change his determination of spend- 
ing the evening of his life in Paris. Whatever these 
were, they could hardly have been the death of Louis, 
because Leibnitz was sufficiently well acquainted 
with the Regent, and was also a friend of the Duch- 
ess of Orleans, the Regent's mother. 

But Paris was not the only place to which Leib- 
nitz looked for a refuge in his declining years. Not- 
withstanding the poor success of his former applica- 
tions for leave to visit London, the interest he took 
in English affairs prevented him from relinquishing 
his wish to establish himself in that metropolis. But 
the Hanoverian advisers of George I, knowing that 
the philosopher would use his influence to prevent 
their selfish interference in the administration of the 

17 



258 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

English government, continued firmly to oppose the 
proposed visit, so that in the end, Leibnitz, in de- 
spair of accomplishing his purpose, declared to his 
friend Ker, that he had finally decided to take up his 
abode, upon the completion of his historical labors, 
in Vienna. Somewhat later, however, it may be 
added, Leibnitz expressed a desire to the minister, 
von Bernstorf to be appointed British historiogra- 
pher to George I, — proposing, in case of his receiving 
that appointment, to incorporate in his annals, a por- 
tion of the early history of England connected with 
that of the ancestors of the family of Brunswick; 
and at the same time adducing precedents to show 
that the granting of his request would be no viola- 
tion of the laws of the British realm against the 
holding of offices by foreigners. That this wish re- 
mained ungratified may readily be inferred from the 
relations subsisting between the parties. Notwith- 
standing the unwillingness, however, of George I, 
to see Leibnitz in London, the latter did not cease to 
take very great interest in the success and populari- 
ty of his royal master's administration. In proof of 
this fact may be adduced the pamphlet written by 
Liebnitz under the title of Anti- Jacobite, on Fausse- 
tes de VAvis aux proprietaires Anglais, being in re- 
ply to a Jacobite attack on the House of Brunswick, 
entitled, Avis aux proprietaires Anglais. The au- 
thorship of this pamphlet was denied, indeed, by 
Leibnitz ; but the style in which it was written, and 
especially the liberal spirit with which it advocated 
the reconciliation of the two political parties of Great 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 259 

Britain, leave no doubt of its having emanated from 
the pen of the great philosopher. The writer main- 
tained with great clearness and force of argument, 
the importance of rendering such protection to agricul- 
ture, the basis of national prosperity, on the one side, 
and to manufactures and commerce, on the other, as 
to secure a harmonious development of these two 
conflicting interests. He also insisted on the impor- 
tance of remedying the disorders which were then 
tending to diminish the influence of piety and mo- 
rality upon the national character ; of guarding 
against the injurious effects of the stipulations in the 
treaty of Utrecht ; and of thwarting the schemes of 
the enemies of the crown in the whole realm. 

The attention given by Leibnitz to the public af- 
fairs of England was owing in part to the fact that 
he attached great importance to the influence which 
was to be exerted by that country in the future so- 
cial and political regeneration of Europe. His pro- 
phetic views on this point were expressed in his 
"New Essays on the Human Understanding" as fol- 
lows, " I find," says the author," that opinions bor- 
dering close upon license, which take possession of 
the governing minds of the great world and creep 
into works of polite literature, are preparing the 
way for the universal revolution icith which Europe 
is threatened) and are utterly destroying what there 
is left of the magnanimous feelings of the ancient 
Greeks and Romans, who set the love of country 
and a care for posterity before the accumulation of 
property, or even the preservation of life. Those 



260 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

" public spirits " as the English call them, are fast 
disappearing and already out of fashion ; and they 
will continue still more rapidly to diminish, unless 
supported by good morals and by the true religion 
which even natural reason teaches. * # * Patriot- 
ism is scouted ; the persons who interest themselves 
for universal aims are ridiculed ; and whenever a 
well-meaning man asks what will posterity say, the 
reply is, alors comme alors ! But it may happen 
that these persons will themselves experience the 
evils they suppose to be reserved for others. If they 
cure themselves of the spiritual epidemic whose per- 
nicious effects begin to show themselves, they will 
perhaps escape these calamities ; but if not, then 
will Providence heal society even by the revolution 
which this disease must naturally end in. For hap- 
pen what may, all things will finally work together 
for the best ; although this result cannot take place 
without the chastisement of those who even by their 
evil acts have brought about a general good." 

In consequence of the dissatisfaction expressed by 
George I, and his ministers in Hanover, at the slow 
progress of Leibnitz's historical labors, the latter was 
induced in the last years of his life to devote his at- 
tention almost exclusively to his great task. In these 
endeavors, by order of the king, he was assisted by 
his former secretary, Eckhart. As a fruit of the in- 
creased diligence of Leibnitz, the first volume of the 
Annates Imperii Occidentis Brunsvicensis was ready 
for the press at the end of the year 1715 ; but the 
author preferred that it should not be published until 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 261 

after the completion of the second and last volume, 
which was promised in the course of the year follow- 
ing. Leibnitz kept his word. But it speaks little 
for the sincerity of the pressing requests made by 
the Hanoverian ministry for the completion of this 
history, that when it was completed they took no 
pains whatever to publish it. The contents of the 
Annates previously to their recent publication were 
known principally from a sketch of them committed 
to paper by Leibnitz, and afterwards communicated 
by Eckhart to Fontenelle. Scheid also published 
some episodes of the original work, together with 
the Origines Guelphicae composed by Eckhart from 
materials collected by Leibnitz. The ideas of the 
latter may indeed not unfrequently be detected by 
careful criticism, in the writings of his secretary and 
associate, who, it used to be said at Hanover, was 
fond of decking himself with the plumes of the 
gieat philosopher. The high idea entertained of the 
Annates by the author himself may be inferred from 
the remark following. "" I venture to affirm," he 
said, " that nothing of this kind has yet been pub- 
lished respecting the middle ages, wherein so many 
errors in the history of the German Empire have 
been corrected, and wherein historical facts have 
been placed in a clearer light." 

In the last year of his life the aged author of the 
Brunswick Annats was contemplating, after the ter- 
mination of his great labor, the execution of a large 
number of literary and scientific projects. He de- 
signed, among other things, the publication of his 



262 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

mathematical correspondence, as an answer to the 
Commercium epistolicum, which had come out under 
the auspices of the royal society in London ; also of 
his Dynamics, together with other mathematical and 
philosophical labors. He likewise proposed to give 
an elaborate exposition of his views respecting the 
natural philosophy of Newton. His various essays, 
moreover, were to be collected and edited; and, 
finally, a complete and demonstrative statement was 
to be made of his peculiar system of metaphysics. 
Many of his projects or ideas for the advancement of 
science, however, he did not design to lay before the 
public, because, as he said, the times were not ripe 
for such things, and he had a great aversion to being 
misunderstood and misrepresented. With that strong 
self-confidence which usually belongs to men of ge- 
nius, he once declared, referring to certain important 
consequences to be deduced from his doctrine of con- 
tinuity, " Je meflatte d'en avoir quelques idees, mais 
ce siecle n' est point fait pour les recevoir." 



CHAPTER XVII. 

The last sickness of Leibnitz— His death and burial. 

But in the midst of the plans mentioned at the 
close of the preceding chapter, and which were 
entertained by this veteran in science with all the 
ardor of a man in his prime, Leibnitz was overtaken, 
though not surprised, by a presentiment of the near 
approach of death. As early as the year 1696, in a 
letter to Thomas Burnet, on the occasion of a report 
of his decease having been circulated in England, 
he said, " If death will only grant me the time 
requisite for the execution of the works already 
projected by me, I will promise to enter upon no 
new undertaking, and industriously to prosecute the 
old ones ; and even such an agreement would defer 
the end of life no inconsiderable period. But death 
troubles himself neither with the execution of our 
projects, nor with the improvement of science." A 
similar report, owing, probably, to the prevalence of 
a pestilence in Vienna, was spread abroad when 
Leibnitz was last in that city ; but to this he pleas- 
antly replied, that, according to the German adage, 



264 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

false reports of the death of a person were sure signs 
of a long life. Leibnitz, indeed, had always felt 
authorized from the character of his physical consti- 
tution, to anticipate a life of more than the ordinary 
duration. * 

Meanwhile, after the return of Leibnitz from 
Vienna, the progress made by the arthritis in his 
system interrupted the continuity of his labors. 
From his fiftieth year, previously to which his 
health had rarely been impaired by illness of any 
kind, Leibnitz began to suffer considerably from this 
malady, which was accompanied also by frequent 
attacks of vertigo. On account of these infirmities, 
he often took the advice of Dr. Behren, of Hildes- 
heim, who wrote a history of the disease of his 
patient ; but, like Cartesius, Leibnitz liked best to 
be his own physician. In the last years of his life, 
a tumor was formed in his right leg, in consequence 
of his sedentary mode of life ; and, therefore, he 
gladly embraced every favorable opportunity for 
making short journeys. These evils, however, were 
borne with perfect cheerfulness. In 1715 he wrote, 
" 1 suffer from time to time in my feet ; occasionally 
the disease passes into my hands ; but head and 
stomach, thank God, still do their duty." " My 
complaint," he said, on another occasion, " is not 
very painful, but it hinders me from being active 
elsewhere than in my chamber, where I always find 
the time too short; and, therefore, I have no ennui 
at all, which is a piece of good fortune in misfor- 
tune." In the month of March, 1716, his letters 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 265 

spoke of his disease as one easily to be borne, and 
not attended by pain when he remained perfectly 
quiet. His return from Pyrmont, near the end of 
August, whither he had gone to pay, for the last 
time, his homage to George I, found him in the best 
of spirits. After that excursion he never again left 
Hanover, but devoted himself to the completion of 
his Annals, though occasionally diverted from it by 
lighter occupations. Among these was the forma- 
tion of a plan of a library for Count von Boineburg, 
his former pupil, then the chief magistrate of Erfurt, 
who having established a professorship of history 
and law at the university of that city, was also about 
to lay there the foundations of a public library. 
This, according to Eckhart, was the last labor of 
Leibnitz ; and it was left unfinished. 

In November, Leibnitz's fatal malady severely 
attacked his shoulders. Thereupon he took, as 
usual, a strong dose of a decoction which had been 
given him two years before, by a Jesuit in Vienna. 
But his constitution was too much reduced to bear 
off the medicine. The disease attacked the vital 
organs ; and he was seized with violent pains and 
convulsions. This occurred in the evening of the 
fourteenth of November; and at nine o'clock, Leibnitz 
hearing of the arrival in Hanover of a physician 
whose advice he had enjoyed in Pyrmont, Dr. Seip, 
requested his attendance. This gentleman coming 
in immediately, the patient, though somewhat dis- 
tressed for breath, entered into conversation with 
him respecting his disease and its remedies, making 



266 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

throughout his discourse numerous allusions to the 
doctrines of alchymy, and relating how the noted 
Furtenbach, in Florence, had succeeded in convert- 
ing the half of an iron nail into gold. The doctor 
observing at length that the pulse of his patient was 
growing more feeble, and that a cold sweat had 
appeared on his hands, informed him that his condi- 
tion had become dangerous. To this Leibnitz re- 
plied, that his hands and feet had, from his youth, 
been liable to be cold, also his pulse weak, and that 
in case of any illness he had various remedies he 
was accustomed to resort to. But the doctor, not 
thinking these appropriate to the patient's critical 
situation, requested leave to go himself and prepare 
others more suitable. Hardly had the physician 
left, however, when Leibnitz, in a very severe attack 
of pain, himself detected the approach of the fatal 
messenger of dissolution. Thereupon he expressed 
a desire to write, and pen and paper having been 
brought to him, he undertook to do so; but what he 
had written appearing to him illegible, he tore the 
paper and lay down again. Towards ten o'clock he 
made a second unsuccessful attempt to write, and 
then drawing his cap over his eyes, he lay down on 
his side and gently fell asleep. When Dr. Seip 
returned with his medicine, he found that Leibnitz 
was no more. 

" When Leibnitz was near his end," relates Eck- 
hart, " his servant asking him whether he did not 
wish to partake of the sacrament, the former replied 
that they should leave him in peace ; he had done 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 267 

no man wrong, and had nothing to confess." Ac- 
cording to the testimony of others, when one of the 
bystanders reminded the dying philosopher that he 
was soon to pass from time to eternity, he mildly 
answered, "Also are other men mortal. " 

Dr. Seip relates, that he saw lying upon Leibnitz's 
couch and the chairs surrounding it, a number of 
letters and books, among which last was his favorite 
Barclay Argenis, in which he had read shortly 
before his death, and which is still retained on his 
study-chair, in the royal library of Hanover; also 
his own is'ova Methodus jziris, with alterations writ- 
ten on the margin, Lynker's Instruct or turn forense, 
Fontan's P?'ogymnasmata, Alberti Interesse Religi- 
onu?n, etc. These, together with all the other books 
and papers of Leibnitz, were, immediately after his 
decease, taken possession of by the ministry, and 
deposited for safe keeping, partly, in the secret 
archives of state, and, partly, in the royal library. 
The money left by the deceased, which, including 
gold and silver medallions, amounted to from four- 
teen to sixteen thousand thalers, was delivered to 
Leibnitz's nephew and only heir, the Rev. Frederic 
Simon Lofrler, who appears, however, to have 
inherited from his illustrious uncle little besides his 
property, and whose wife was so weak a woman as, 
upon the sight of such a sum of money brought into 
her house, to fall, from joy and terror, senseless to 
the floor. 

The death of this great man was an event of as 
little importance in the eyes of the Hanoverian 



268 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

courtiers, as had been his life. This indifference 
was owing, in part, undoubtedly, to the circumstance 
that Leibnitz, towards the close of his life, had lost 
the favor of his royal master. One friend of the 
departed, Ker, of Kersland, happened to arrive in 
Hanover the same day on which Leibnitz died, and 
was deeply grieved not only at the sad event, but 
also at the little notice taken of it by the Hanoveri- 
ans. For, according to the representations of Ker, 
the funeral was more like that of a highwayman 
than of one who had been the ornament of his coun- 
try. This is confirmed by Eckhart, upon whom 
alone devolved the care of giving the great Leibnitz 
honorable burial. Through his agency a costly 
coffin was procured, having engraved at its head the 
armorial bearings of the deceased; at its foot, his 
name, and the dates of his birth and death ; on the 
right side his motto, Pars vita, quoties perditur 
kora, perit; on the top, an unit contained in a cipher, 
with the superscription, Omnia ad unum; on the 
bottom, an eagle soaring, and gazing at the sun, with 
the superscription, Haurit de lumine lumen; on the 
left side the lines of Horace, 

Virtus recludens immeritis mori 
Ccelum, negata tentat iter via, 
Ccetusque mortales et udam 
Linquit humura fugiente penna. 

On the upper side of the lid stood Bernoulli's 
favorite symbol, which had been also highly prized 
by Leibnitz, being a spiral line, with the superscrip- 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 269 

tion, Inclinata resurget ; and on the lower side, a 
phoenix, in the act of being consumed by fire, with 
the superscription, Servabit cinis honorem. 

We are informed by Eckhart, that although the 
whole court was invited to attend the funeral solemni- 
ties, no one appeared on the occasion except himself. 
The deceased having during his life time been con- 
sidered an unbeliever, no clergyman followed his 
remains to the grave. " Leibnitz went seldom or 
never to church," says Eckhart, " and communed 
very unfrequently. The clergy, on this account, 
upbraided him in public ; but he heeded them not. 
God knows what were his motives. The common 
people generally called him a nothingarian, (Love- 
nix, d. i. Glauber nichts") 

Thus were the remains of the great mathematician 
and founder of German philosophy committed to the 
earth ! How unlike the burial given by a proud and 
grateful country to the mortal part of Leibnitz's illus- 
trious English contemporary. The nobles of the 
land bore the pall of Newton, and the assembled 
people followed his body to its sacred and fit resting 
place in Westminster Abbey. 

The royal academy of sciences in Berlin took no 
notice of the loss of their founder and first president. 
The London society, of which Leibnitz was one of 
the oldest and most distinguished members, remained 
silent upon the death of the rival of Newton. Only 
the academy in Paris paid that respect which was 
due from scientific Europe to the memory of one of 
the greatest philosophers of the age. 



270 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

The ashes of Leibnitz repose in what is called the 
court church of Hanover. For half a century after 
his death, there was nothing to mark the spot of this 
precious deposit ; but it is now indicated by a copper 
plate in one of the aisles, bearing the inscription, 
Ossa Leibnitii. Towards the end of the eighteenth 
century the indifference which the Hanoverians had 
felt towards the living philosopher, gave place to the 
most enthusiastic veneration for his memory. The 
inhabitants of the town which had taken no notice of 
his death, then generously united with the govern- 
ment in erecting on a rising ground, near the royal 
library, a circular temple to the genius of their illus- 
trious fellow-citizen. A monument still more durable 
and appropriate is yet due from his country to the 
father of German philosophy ; and that is, an edition 
of his complete works. ^ 

* These are now in the course of publication at Hanover, from 
the MSS. of the royal library, edited by G.H. Pertz. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Description of Leibnitz's person and habits, by Eckhart— Also by 
himself— Extracts from his letters— His religious toleration— Re- 
collections of him by a cotemporary— Charges brought against 
his character— His defects as a writer— His views of matrimony- 
Fondness for children— Report of his having had a natural son. 

In conclusion, we lay before our readers a few 
particulars concerning the character of Leibnitz, 
which have not been introduced in a previous part of 
this work. 

From the Memoir of Leibnitz by his secretary and 
assistant in historiography, we select the following 
minute description of the appearance and mode of 
life of the great philosopher. 

" With respect to his physical constitution," says 
Eckhart, " he was of the middle stature ; had rather 
a large head, hair which in his youth had been black, 
and small and short-sighted, but keen and scrutinizing 
eyes. On account of his short-sightedness, he pre- 
ferred to read small rather than large print, and him- 
self made use of diminutive characters in writing. 
He was early bald, and had upon the crown of his 



272 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

head a protuberance about the size of a pigeon's egg. 
Broad across the shoulders, he was accustomed to 
walk with his head so far thrown forward as to give 
him the appearance of having a humpback. In per- 
son he was rather spare than otherwise ; and his 
limbs in walking were as crooked and ungainly as 
those of Charon. He had a strong constitution ; ate 
heartly, but drank little, except when compelled by 
others. When dining with his friends, he always 
mingled water with his wine, otherwise he was liable 
to suffer from the heart-burn. At home, he drank a 
little beer ; and having always by him sweet and 
tart wines, he mixed these, together also with a little 
water, with cherry-juice prepared with sugar. With- 
out any domestic establishment of his own, he was 
not particular in the choice of his food, and had it 
sent to his room from some of the hotels. He also 
had no fixed hours for his meals, but took them 
whenever his studies made it convenient. When the 
arthritis had made considerable progress in his con- 
stitution, he took nothing at dinner except a little 
milk ; but immediately before retiring, he indulged in 
a full meal, — humorously remarking, that he could 
save time by eating a la Romaine, and that the di- 
gestive process went on better while he was asleep 
than when awake. Excepting occasional attacks of 
vertigo, he was rarely troubled with illness of any 
kind. His sleep was sound and uninterrupted. He 
retired at about one or two o'clock at night ; often 
indeed he slept merely in his chair ; and arose by six 
or seven in the morning. His studies were prosecu- 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 273 

ted without intermission; and often, for days togeth- 
er, he did not leave his chair. To this sedentary life 
is to be attributed, probably, the formation of an ab- 
scess in his right leg. This made walking difficult, 
and he sought to heal it, though by no other means^ 
than the application of blotting paper. But as sooni 
as he had effected his object, he was sure to be at- 
tacked violently by the arthritis. From these attacks 
relief was sought by lying perfectly still, with his 
feet drawn up in bed, in which posture he still prose- 
cuted his studies. To diminish the susceptibility of 
his nerves, he was accustomed to apply wooden vises 
to the parts of his body affected by pain, whereby he 
so injured his nervous system, as to lose at last the 
use of his feet almost entirely, and to be compelled, 
to lie most of the time in bed." 

" When Leibnitz left home, as he often did, to visit 
any distinguished person, or to make new observa- 
tions, he commenced his journey on a Sunday or a 
holyday ; and carried on by the way original inves- 
tigations in mathematics, which were afterwards pub- 
lished in the scientific journals. His appearance was 
always that of a lively, good-humored person, and 
one unmolested by care. He conversed with soldiers, 
courtiers, statesmen, artists, and others, as if belong- 
ing to their own profession ; therefore was he beloved, 
except by those who did not understand such things. 
He spoke well of every one ; put the best construc- 
tion upon the actions of others ; and ever spared his 
enemies, when having it in his power to dispossess 
them of their places." 

18 



274 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

A great reader, Leibnitz made extracts from every- 
thing he read, and wrote down on small pieces of 
paper his reflections upon every book of importance. 
These, however, as soon as written, he laid away in 
a cabinet constructed for the purpose; and, on ac- 
count of the extraordinary retentiveness of his mem- 
ory, never had occasion to refer to them afterwards. 
Indeed, so incomparable was this faculty in Leibnitz, 
that in his old age he could recite from memory the 
most beautiful passages of the ancient poets, particu- 
larly Virgil, sacred hymns also, and whatever else he 
had read in his youth. He was eager to take part in 
all matters relating to learning ; and whenever he 
heard of any new discovery, he gave himself no rest 
until he had fully informed himself respecting it. 
His correspondence was very extensive, and occupied 
the greater portion of his time, — and the more be- 
cause, in case of any letters of importance, he was in 
the habit of sketching or re-writing them twice, and, 
often, three or four times, before suffering them to 
pass from his hands. The most distinguished literati 
of Europe made communications to him, and when 
persons of no reputation even wrote to him, he always 
answered their letters and gave them information." 

" His self-conceit, which would admit of no contra- 
diction, even in cases where he immediately saw his 
error, was his greatest failing. Still, afterwards he 
was sure to follow his best convictions. Towards 
his domestics he was very indulgent ; inclined, in- 
deed, to fits of passion, but quickly pacified." 

Besides the foregoing account of Eckhart's, Leib- 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 275 

nitz himself, when about fifty years of age, wrote a 
description of his external and internal man, for his 
friend and physician, Doct. Behren ; and of this also 
we give a translation as follows: 

" His father," he wrote, speaking of himself in the 
third person, " was of a slender frame, of a tempera- 
ment rather sanguine than choleric, and was accus- 
tomed to suffer much from the gravel. The disease 
which occasioned his death was a kind of consump- 
tion, of eight days' duration, and unattended by pain. 
His mother died of a catarrhal affection." 

" His own temperament appears to have been 
neither purely sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, nor 
melancholic ; — not sanguine, on account of the pale- 
ness of his countenance, and because he is not active 
in his habits ; not choleric, because he is not fond of 
drinks, has soft hair, a keen appetite, and enjoys 
sound sleep ; not phlegmatic, by reason of the lively 
action of his feelings, and the spare habit of his per- 
son ; not melancholy, since he is entirely free from 
hypochondria, thinks rapidly, and has an active will. 
The choleric tendencies, however, seem to have the 
ascendancy." 

" He is spare in person, of moderate height, has a 
pale countenance, never perspires, is subject to cold- 
ness in his hands and feet, which, like his fingers, are 
too long in proportion to his other limbs. The hair 
of his head is brown ; on his limbs it is very thin. 
From his youth his sight has been imperfect. His 
voice is weak, but clear ; it is also flexible, but not 
rich in its intonations, so that the gutturals, and the 



276 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

letter K, are not easily enunciated by him. He has 
weak lungs, a dry and fiery liver, and his hands are 
covered with lines. He is fond of saccharine sub- 
stances, as sugar, which he is in the habit of ming- 
ling in his wine. Strong odors also are grateful to 
him ; and he is firmly convinced that odors, when 
not too stimulating, are serviceable in recruiting the 
animal spirits. He never has a cold or cough ; sel- 
dom sneezes ; seldom expectorates phlegm, but often 
saliva, especially after drinking, and in proportion to 
what he drinks. His eyes are not very abundantly 
supplied with moisture, but are rather drier than they 
should be. Therefore he cannot see well at a dis- 
tance, but near by his sight is so much the keener. 
His sleep at night is uninterrupted, because he goes 
late to bed, and much prefers sitting up at night to 
working early in the morning." 

" From his earliest years he has been accustomed 
to a sedentary mode of life, and taken little exercise. 
He has read a great deal, and reflected still more. 
In most departments of knowledge he is self-taught ; 
and is always eager to penetrate deeper into things 
than is usual, and to make new discoveries." 

" His inclination to conversation is not so great as 
to meditation and solitude. But once engaged in 
discourse, he proceeds in it with interest, finding 
more satisfaction in playful and jocose remarks than 
in active sports and exercises." 

" He quickly flies into a passion ; but his anger, 
easily aroused, is also easily allayed." 

" One will never see him excessively hurried, nor 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 277 

deeply dejected. Pain and joy he experiences only 
in moderation. Laughter often changes the features 
of his countenance, without agitating at all his inter- 
nal frame." 

" Timid in commencing an undertaking, he is 
bold in carrying it through. On account of the 
weakness of his visual organs, he is destitute of a 
lively imagination ; and from the imperfection of his 
memory, a small loss at the present moment affects 
him more deeply than the greatest one in the past." 

" Endowed with excellent gifts of judgment and 
invention, it is not difficult for him to excogitate, to 
read and to write many things, — to discourse on the 
spur of the moment, and to penetrate by meditation, 
whenever it is necessary, to the centre of any notion 
or idea. Hence I infer that he possesses a dry and 
spirituous brain." 

11 The animal spirits are very active in him. 
Therefore I fear, in consequence of constant appli- 
cation to study, of incessant meditation, and of the 
spareness of his person, that he will die of some in- 
flammatory disease, or of consumption." 

From the letters of Leibnitz we extract the follow- 
ing passages, characteristic of his liberal and toler- 
ant spirit. " When I err in my estimate of persons," 
he w r rote to Raymond, " I prefer to err on the side 
of charity. And it is the same with respect to their 
writings. I endeavor to find in them not what may 
be blamed, but what may be praised, and that from 
which I may learn something. This course is not 
exactly in fashion ; but it is the most just and the 



278 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

most useful. Nevertheless, though there are few 
books, or persons in whom I cannot find something 
of use to me, I know how to make a difference in 
granting them my confidence. " 

" Believe not," he wrote to Placcius, " that I think 
unfavorably of your excellent work, Medicina mora- 
lis, or that I have not read it, because I have not 
found fault with it. Know that no one has a less 
censorious spirit than I have. It sounds strange ; 
but I approve of the most I read in the writings of 
others, to say nothing of yours. Knowing what 
different views are taken of things, I almost always 
discover something in all books which serves either 
to excuse or to defend them. Therefore I meet with 
few things in reading which displease me, although 
some things of course please me more than others." 

In advocating the cause of religious toleration, 
Leibnitz was fond of relating an anecdote he had 
heard in England respecting the two English theo- 
logians and controversialists, the brothers John and 
William Rainold. They lived in the reign of Eliza- 
beth ; John residing in the Spanish Netherlands had 
become a Catholic, while William remaining in 
England, had continued a Protestant. In their let- 
ters to each other, they disputed zealously upon re- 
ligious questions, but without being able to reconcile 
their opinions. At length they agreed on a time and 
place for having a personal interview, thinking there- 
by to succeed better in their pious designs. In truth 
they were both successful. Both conquered, both 
were conquered. Each was convinced by the rea- 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 279 

sonings of the other, and each regretted that he had 
convinced the other. Accordingly they exchanged 
both their religion and their places of residence — 
John going to England, and William remaining in 
the Netherlands. Each afterwards defended his 
faith with great ardor. John wrote against Bellar- 
min respecting the holy scriptures, and also upon the 
idolatry of the Romish church ; while his brother 
opposed Whitaker and Berengarius, and published a 
work with the design of showing that the followers 
of Calvin did not differ materially from the believ- 
ers in the Koran. To some one who remarked that 
it was not for man to determine which of the broth- 
ers exchanged golden weapons for iron ones, or 
whether both were received at the gate of heaven, 
Leibnitz replied that God doubtless had mercy on 
both the Rainolds, as each contended with pious 
zeal for his sincere convictions ; and that we should 
take care not, by want of charity for either of them, 
to bring ourselves into condemnation. 

A great number of literary men of every profes- 
sion and with every degree of attainments, were in- 
debted to the recommendations of Leibnitz for vari- 
ous kinds of offices and appointments. On his jour- 
neys he gladly availed himself of the society of 
these persons who revered him as a father and a 
benefactor ; and whenever his friends in turn came 
to Hanover, they were always sure of a welcome. 
One of these, von Uffenbach, a Frankfort patrician, 
has given us the following rather curious account of 
his visit to the great philosopher. 



280 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

" In the afternoon, " says this writer, " we made it 
our first business to send in our names to the learned 
and far-famed Herrn Privy Counsellor von Leibnitz, 
who immediately invited us to call on him. Although 
he is more than sixty years of age, and makes a 
strange appearance clad in fir stockings, a dressing 
gown lined with the same material, large socks made 
of felt, instead of slippers, and a long, singular look- 
ing wig, nevertheless he is a very polite and social 
person, and entertained us with remarks on politics 
and various literary topics. ^ ^ ^ I succeeded at 
length in breaking off the conversation for the pur- 
pose of asking him to show me his library, as well 
as that of the Elector, which I was extremely anx- 
ious to get sight of. But, as I had been led to ex- 
pect would be the case, he declined, being very re- 
luctant to let any one see them. As to the Electo- 
ral library, he said it was a bibliotheque de cabinet, 
containing nothing but some new books on history, 
and was in such disorder that he could not think of 
admitting any one. Other persons assured me, 
however, that the books in this library were very 
numerous and valuable ; but that it was a peculiari- 
ty of Leibnitz's, that he liked to worm in it alone. 
Not even the Elector himself, therefore, could get a 
chance of seeing it, the Herr Privy Counsellor al- 
ways alleging that it had not been put in order. He 
made the same excuse for not letting us see his own 
library, and added that there was nothing remarka- 
ble in it, except a few codices which he would bring 
to us. This he also did." 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 281 

There are always persons who take delight in ex- 
posing the infirmities, real or pretended, of the great 
and good. Thus two charges, — to mention only the 
most serious ones, — have been brought against Leib- 
nitz ; one that he loved money, and the other that 
he was inclined to flattery. Eckhart himself, in his 
communications made to Fontenelle respecting his 
illustrious countryman, said that " Leibnitz had a 
love for money which was almost sordid. He used 
his money, however, not for his own convenience, 
but preferred to let himself be cheated out of it by 
mechanics and servants, and expended large sums on 
the arithmetical machine which was completed short- 
ly before his death." But the justification is con- 
tained in the charge itself. Leibnitz expended his 
property, not upon his own person for pleasures, or 
show, or convenience, but rather devoted it to great 
and noble purposes. In proof of this, his remarka- 
ble generosity to his friend Ker of Kersland, which 
has already been mentioned, may be referred to. 
True he often sued to princes for pensions ; and had 
all his annual dues been, as they were not, fully 
paid, his income would have been a tolerably large 
one. But where else than to the princes of the land 
should Leibnitz have looked for compensation for 
his days and nights of labor, and for the means of 
living in a style suited to his conspicuous position ? 
Did the German nation do any thing for its great 
philosopher ? Leibnitz, in fact, never received any 
pecuniary compensation for his writings, whether 
published in journals or elsewhere. His Theodicea 



2S2 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

enriched the booksellers, but paid nothing to its au- 
thor. Europe enjoyed the rich fruits of his dili- 
gence and his genius gratuitously. Besides, the 
payment of his pensions and salaries depended al- 
ways upon the good-will of those who paid them, 
and was constantly liable to fail by the occurrence 
of war. For in the frequent wars of those days, 
there was nothing in which kings thought they could 
so easily economize as in the salaries paid for the 
support of science and the maintenance of men of 
learning. Leibnitz as a prudent man, therefore, was 
obliged to make some provision against the loss of 
court favor, and the ruinous consequences of war 
and conquest. 

The other charge brought against Leibnitz of lik- 
ing to flatter and to be flattered, has not much better 
foundation than the preceding one. He did indeed 
look upon his extensive fame, reaching even to the 
remotest East, in the light of a reward of his labors. 
He was also conscious of the greatness of his mental 
endowments ; and did not by any means undervalue 
the contributions made by him to the cause of sci- 
ence and civilization. It gratified him, moreover, to 
receive the grateful acknowledgments of persons 
seeking for the truth, and even of those not particu- 
larly remarkable for their intellectual attainments, 
as for example, of a Hamburg philologian, who cele- 
brated the praises of the philosopher in Greek verse. 
Nor was he averse to being regarded as a learned 
oracle. But among all those who from various lands, 
from different ranks of life, and from opposing 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 283 

churches, were connected in some way with the sage 
of Hanover, some, naturally enough, were not satis- 
fied with him ; and these are the persons chiefly, who 
have accused him of a love of flattery, as also of 
double-mindedness, and of indifference in religion. 
He was charged with making his system conform 
to the leading doctrines of all parties ; but, as Les- 
sing well remarked, the converse was the truth, — 
he endeavored to make these doctrines conform to 
his system. Leibnitz, in fact, in the investigation of 
truth, took no account of the prevailing opinions of 
men ; but, firmly convinced of the correctness of his 
own principles, he took pains to lead different minds 
by different paths to the same point of view which 
he occupied himself. En general, said he, il est 
bon, qu'on se mette a la portee de tout le monde, 
pourvu que la verite rten souffre pas. 

In the writings of Leibnitz, one of the greatest 
deficiencies is their want of form. He never threw 
his whole force into any of his works ; and in com- 
parison with the perfection of the mind whence 
they emanated, they appear partial and fragmentary. 
If we speak of authors as a class, a question might 
almost be raised, whether Leibnitz, notwithstanding 
the multiplicity of his writings, strictly belonged to 
it. The products of his pen are for the most part, 
conversations, sometimes with individuals, sometimes 
with the public. The letter was the form of com- 
position in which he most excelled ; and his exten- 
sive, though for the most part unpublished corre- 
spondence, must be considered as composing the 



2S4 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

great body of the Leibnitzian literature. Instead of 
valuing the form of literary productions, he sought in 
them only for materials. Accordingly, his own writ- 
ings are frequently deficient in connection, and are 
seldom arranged with much felicity. His style like- 
wise is apt to be involved, unequal, and discursive. 
He esteemed knowledge for its practical applications 
mainly, for its power of improving the character and 
condition of man both here and hereafter. The his- 
tory of the past was to him worthless but for its rela- 
tions to the present, as the present was important 
from its connection with the future. Le present est 
gros de Vavenir, was one of his mottoes. But 
though valuing learning, not so much for itself as its 
uses, he was to the last none the less enthusiastic in 
the acquisition of it. Late in life he commenced the 
study of the Russian language, saying, — inter senes 
discipulos facilius nunc locum tuear, quam olim inter 
pueros doctos. Nam cum Socrate semper ad discen- 
dum paratus sum. 

As Leibnitz prized knowledge only so far as it was 
wisdom and power, so he esteemed poetry and art 
but as means for promoting morality and piety. 
Accordingly, in the spirit of Plato, he proposed that 
the imagination of the community should be cultiva- 
ted and kept pure by means of the fine arts ; the 
stage should mirror the beauty of the divine life ; the 
powers of music should be enlisted in the service of 
the church ; poetry should be employed to sing in 
fascinating strains the felicities of the future state ; 
and thus all the graces of art become ministering 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 285 

handmaids in the temple of virtue. But these views, 
though they may serve to show the goodness of 
Leibnitz's intentions, must, in the present condition 
of aesthetical science, be considered as derogatory to 
the dignity of the arts of design. They follow natu- 
rally, however, from the low place assigned in his 
philosophical system, to works of the imagination. 
But these sentiments upon the religious use of art, it 
may be added, were not at all times entertained by 
Leibnitz ; on the contrary, we find him in his aphor- 
isms assuming the Protestant point of view, and ad- 
vocating opinions directly the opposite. 

Another great fault, both in the writings and the 
life of Leibnitz, is the absence of that vein of senti- 
ment, so remarkably characteristic of the German 
nation. 

Leibnitz was hardly acquainted with any other 
love than that which had humanity for its object. 
Although he could be devotedly attached in friend- 
ship, as may be seen in his regrets for the loss of the 
queen of Prussia, it is not known that he ever seri- 
ously entertained a desire to enter into the state of 
matrimony. When in his fiftieth year, he did, in- 
deed, once make proposals to a lady ; but, as she re- 
quested time for reflection, the philosopher himself 
finally thought better of the matter. He was after- 
wards wont to say that he had always supposed there 
was time enough for matrimony, until at length he 
had found out it was altogether too late. To him 
has also been attributed the saying, " Marriage is a 
good thing, — only a wise man must spend his whole 



2S6 LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

life in meditating it." Eckhart relates, however, that 
Leibnitz was very much pleased with the society of 
ladies, and never grudged the time spent in convers- 
ing with them. There was found, too, among his 
papers, an essay entitled, A Bridal Present, consist- 
ing of familiar rules for maintaining affection between 
husband and wife, and displaying a very deep insight 
into the subject of which it treated. 

Leibnitz was a friend of children. It is related of 
him that he often sent for them to come into his 
room, that he might enjoy the sight of their merri- 
ment ; and that, after having amused himself with 
their plays, he dismissed them well supplied with 
sweet cakes. And in this connection, we may allude 
to a report that Leibnitz was the father of a natural 
son. This matter was first publicly alluded to in 
1730, in the Recueil de Literature, published in 
Amsterdam, and afterwards in the Lettres Juives, 
from which sources later writers derived the story. 
But Eckhart makes no mention of it ; Nemeitz re- 
jected it as a fabrication of Leibnitz's enemies, be- 
cause he had never heard of any such report in Han- 
over ; and Jocourt does the same. Ludovici is silent 
on the subject. 

There seems good reason for believing that Leib- 
nitz had a young man in his service, who bore a 
striking resemblance to himself, and to whom he was 
much attached. This person was called William 
Dillinger, and followed the profession of a painter. 
But it is somewhat strange, if this person were the 
son of Leibnitz, that the latter should never in any 



LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 287 

way have recognized him as such, and have made no 
pecuniary provision for him by will or otherwise ; 
and still more remarkable that Dillinger himself 
should not have claimed relationship with the great 
philosopher. 

In 17S9, however, almost thirty years after the 
death of Dillinger, a daughter of his, then living in a 
destitute condition in Mockern, near Magdeburg, the 
charity of the public was solicited in her behalf, as a 
grand-daughter of Leibnitz. It was declared in one 
of the public journals, that Dillinger, who had lived 
and died in Mockern, in poor circumstances, was the 
son of Leibnitz, — that there had existed a striking 
likeness between the two, — and that the former had 
made no secret to his intimate friends of his true 
origin. Dillinger, it was further related, had in his 
life-time told many persons that the great philosopher 
had entertained a strong affection for him, — had sent 
him to the academy to learn the art of painting, — 
and afterwards bestowed upon him a great many 
favors ; but he, becoming self-willed, had, on some 
provocation, deserted Leibnitz, and thereby lost the 
inheritance upon which he had set his hopes. 

There is hardly evidence enough in this case to 
enable one to form a very decided opinion upon the 
matter. It may be that the circumstance of Leibnitz 
having a young man in his employment who strik- 
ingly resembled himself, led to the suspicion, and 
afterwards to the report, that this person was his own 
son. But, on the other hand, there are no circum- 
stances in the case which render it impossible to 



28S LIFE OF LEIBNITZ. 

believe that the alleged confessions of Dillinger do 
not contain the truth. It is very certain that Leibnitz 
never acknowledged himself a father ; and never, like 
Cartesius before him, declared that he was free from 
the vow of celibacy. 

There were several portraits of Leibnitz, taken at 
different periods in the course of his life. The best 
likeness of him now extant, is an excellent and very 
rare engraving by Bernigeroth, taken from an origi- 
nal painting, executed at the request of the queen of 
Prussia, Sophia Louisa, third wife of Frederic I. 
This original is no longer in existence, and the ar- 
tist's name is now unknown. It represents Leibnitz 
as upwards of sixty years of age ; and is, according 
to good authorities, a correct likeness. 



END. 



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